diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 47c3c5ae..63ce45e1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 BUILD_WITHOUT_QUIC ?= true
 export BUILD_WITHOUT_QUIC
 
-REBAR = $(CURDIR)/rebar3
-REBAR_VERSION = 3.16.1-emqx-1
+REBAR ?= $(or $(shell which rebar3 2>/dev/null),$(CURDIR)/rebar3)
+REBAR_VERSION ?= 3.19.0-emqx-1
 
 .PHONY: all
 all: compile
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ all: compile
 get-rebar3:
 	@$(CURDIR)/get-rebar3 $(REBAR_VERSION)
 
-$(REBAR): get-rebar3
+$(REBAR):
+	$(MAKE) get-rebar3
 
 .PHONY: compile
 compile: $(REBAR)
diff --git a/get-rebar3 b/get-rebar3
index eb7f4724..f18fe9a6 100755
--- a/get-rebar3
+++ b/get-rebar3
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/"
 DOWNLOAD_URL='https://github.com/emqx/rebar3/releases/download'
 
 download() {
-    curl --silent --show-error -f -L "${DOWNLOAD_URL}/${VERSION}/rebar3" -o ./rebar3
+    local url="${DOWNLOAD_URL}/${VERSION}/rebar3"
+
+    echo "Downloading rebar3 from '${url}' ..."
+    curl --silent --show-error -f -L "${url}" -o ./rebar3
 }
 
 # get the version number from the second line of the escript