diff --git a/lib/weblib.php b/lib/weblib.php
index 05630890ea2..c5555f945c2 100644
--- a/lib/weblib.php
+++ b/lib/weblib.php
@@ -6968,7 +6968,12 @@ function doc_link($path='', $text='', $iconpath='') {
 
     $lang = str_replace('_utf8', '', current_language());
 
-    $str = '<a href="' .$CFG->docroot. '/' .$lang. '/' .$path. '"' .$target. '>';
+    //derive branch from the first three letters of version.php's $release with the period taken out.($CFG->release isn't populated yet during upgrade)
+    include($CFG->dirroot.'/version.php');
+    preg_match('/^(.)\.(.)/', $release, $matches);
+    $branch = $matches[1].$matches[2];
+
+    $str = '<a href="' .$CFG->docroot. '/' .$branch. '/' .$lang. '/' .$path. '"' .$target. '>';
 
     if (empty($iconpath)) {
         $iconpath = $CFG->httpswwwroot . '/pix/docs.gif';