diff --git a/docs/environment_variables.md b/docs/environment_variables.md
index 51baa9fe..5be07b3d 100644
--- a/docs/environment_variables.md
+++ b/docs/environment_variables.md
@@ -5,3 +5,11 @@
 pmbootstrap supports `doas` and `sudo`. If multiple sudo implementations are
 installed, pmbootstrap will use `doas`. You can set the `PMB_SUDO`
 environmental variable to define the sudo implementation you want to use.
+
+## `PMB_APK_FORCE_MISSING_REPOSITORIES`
+
+When this is set to `1`, pmbootstrap will not complain if downloading an
+APKINDEX results in a 404 not found error. This is used by
+[bpo](https://build.postmarketos.org) when building a new stable repository for
+the first time. For example if the `x86_64` repository was already built and
+published, but the `aarch64` repository wasn't published yet.