--- a/doc/installation.txt	Thu Dec 28 15:13:42 2023 -0500
+++ b/doc/installation.txt	Sun Dec 31 17:28:36 2023 -0500
@@ -611,18 +611,35 @@
   SQLite is supported via PySQLite versions 1.1.7, 2.1.0 and sqlite3 (the last
   being bundled with Python 2.5+)
 
-  Installed SQLite should be the latest version available (3.3.8 is known
-  to work, 3.1.3 is known to have problems).
+  Installed SQLite should be the latest version available (3.9.0 or newer).
+
+  .. _fts5-testing:
 
   Installation of Roundup 2.2.0 or newer requires that the installed
-  SQLite supports FTS5. FTS5 was supported in release 3.9.0 in October
-  2015. However some vendors choose not to include it. You can check
-  your SQLite by using the command line::
+  SQLite supports FTS5. This is required even if you are not going to
+  use FTS5 for full text searching. FTS5 was included in SQLite
+  release 3.9.0 in October 2015. However some vendors choose not to
+  include it.  RedHat 7's native sqlite3 is known to not work.
+
+  You can check your SQLite by using the command line::
 
      echo 'pragma compile_options' | sqlite3 | grep FTS5
 
   it should output ``ENABLE_FTS5`` if FTS5 is supported.
 
+  You can check using the same version of Python you use for running
+  Roundup with::
+
+     import sqlite3
+
+     con = sqlite3.connect(':memory:')
+     cur = con.cursor()
+     cur.execute('pragma compile_options;')
+     available_pragmas = cur.fetchall()
+     con.close()
+
+  The output should include ``('ENABLE_FTS5',)`` in the output.
+
   Roundup supports using `SQLite's full text search capability
   <admin_guide.html#sqlite-details>`_. This
   can improve searching if you are not installing another indexer like

--- a/doc/upgrading.txt	Thu Dec 28 15:13:42 2023 -0500
+++ b/doc/upgrading.txt	Sun Dec 31 17:28:36 2023 -0500
@@ -709,6 +709,14 @@
 in the ``web`` section of ``config.ini`` to ``yes``. In
 general this should be left at its default value of ``no``.
 
+Verify that SQLite supports FTS5 (required)
+-------------------------------------------
+
+If you use SQLite as your backend, it *must* support FTS5.  See the
+`FTS5 testing steps`_ for how to verify this.
+
+.. _FTS5 testing steps: installation.html#fts5-testing
+
 Check allowed_api_origins setting (optional)
 --------------------------------------------