diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/edittemplate.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/edittemplate.pm
index b408dfcac..571accf1f 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/edittemplate.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/edittemplate.pm
@@ -140,13 +140,19 @@ sub filltemplate ($$) {
 	$template->param(name => $page);
 
 	if ($template->query(name => 'uuid')) {
-		eval {
-			require UUID::Tiny;
-			UUID::Tiny->import(':std');
-			my $uuid;
-			$uuid = create_uuid_as_string(UUID_V4());
-			$template->param(uuid => $uuid);
-		};
+		my $uuid;
+		if (open(my $fh, "<", "/proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid")) {
+			$uuid = <$fh>;
+			chomp $uuid;
+			close $fh;
+		}
+		else {
+			eval {
+				require UUID::Tiny;
+				$uuid = UUID::Tiny::create_uuid_as_string(UUID::Tiny::UUID_V4());
+			};
+		}
+		$template->param(uuid => $uuid);
 	}
 
 	return $template->output;
diff --git a/doc/ikiwiki/directive/edittemplate.mdwn b/doc/ikiwiki/directive/edittemplate.mdwn
index 151fd203a..63df23914 100644
--- a/doc/ikiwiki/directive/edittemplate.mdwn
+++ b/doc/ikiwiki/directive/edittemplate.mdwn
@@ -35,6 +35,6 @@ Two variables might be set:
   created.
   
 * `<TMPL_VAR uuid>` is replaced with a version 4 (random) UUID.
-  (Requires the `UUID::Tiny` Perl module.)
+  (Requires the `UUID::Tiny` Perl module if not running on Linux.)
 
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