diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e5a5abab..3788c1f8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -55,4 +55,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Parser error if click command contained `}`
   ([`#2040`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2040))
 
-[Unreleased]: https://github.com/polybar/polybar/compare/3.5.2...HEAD
+## [3.5.3] - 2020-12-23
+### Build
+- Don't use `git` when building documentation ([`#2311`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2309))
+### Fixed
+- Empty color values are no longer treated as invalid and no longer produce an error.
+
+[Unreleased]: https://github.com/polybar/polybar/compare/3.5.3...HEAD
+[3.5.3]: https://github.com/polybar/polybar/releases/tag/3.5.3
diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index a68eaa55..94d10cbe 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -13,11 +13,25 @@
 # documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
 #
 import os
+from pathlib import Path
 import datetime
-import subprocess
-from docutils.nodes import Node
 from typing import List
+from docutils.nodes import Node
 from sphinx.domains.changeset import VersionChange
+import packaging.version
+
+def get_version(root_path):
+  """
+  Reads the polybar version from the version.txt at the root of the repo.
+  """
+  path = Path(root_path) / "version.txt"
+  with open(path, "r") as f:
+    for line in f.readlines():
+      if not line.startswith("#"):
+        return packaging.version.parse(line)
+
+  raise RuntimeError("No version found in {}".format(path))
+
 
 
 # -- Project information -----------------------------------------------------
@@ -50,6 +64,11 @@ else:
   # build folder.
   doc_path = '@doc_path@'
 
+# The version from the version.txt file. Since we are not always first
+# configured by cmake, we don't necessarily have access to the current version
+# number
+version_txt = get_version(Path(doc_path).absolute().parent)
+
 # -- General configuration ---------------------------------------------------
 
 # If your documentation needs a minimal Sphinx version, state it here.
@@ -213,12 +232,9 @@ class VersionDirective(VersionChange):
   deprecated and adds an unreleased tag to versions that are not yet released
   """
   def run(self) -> List[Node]:
-    # If the tag exists 'git rev-parse' will succeed and otherwise fail
-    completed = subprocess.run(["git", "rev-parse", self.arguments[0]],
-        stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL, cwd=doc_path,
-        check=False)
+    directive_version = packaging.version.parse(self.arguments[0])
 
-    if completed.returncode != 0:
+    if directive_version > version_txt:
       self.arguments[0] += " (unreleased)"
 
     return super().run()
diff --git a/src/components/config.cpp b/src/components/config.cpp
index a94aaee2..5be2c223 100644
--- a/src/components/config.cpp
+++ b/src/components/config.cpp
@@ -225,6 +225,10 @@ chrono::duration<double> config::convert(string&& value) const {
 
 template <>
 rgba config::convert(string&& value) const {
+  if (value.empty()) {
+    return rgba{};
+  }
+
   rgba ret{value};
 
   if (!ret.has_color()) {
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
index 2bd23581..af8cdbfd 100644
--- a/version.txt
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Polybar version information
 # Update this on every release
 # This is used to create the version string if a git repo is not available
-3.5.2
+3.5.3