diff --git a/xapian-bindings/configure.ac b/xapian-bindings/configure.ac
index e1685ec..bfd32f0 100644
--- a/xapian-bindings/configure.ac
+++ b/xapian-bindings/configure.ac
@@ -351,16 +351,7 @@ if test no != "$with_python" ; then
 	fi
       fi
     fi
-    AC_MSG_CHECKING([for python2 sphinx module])
-    if $PYTHON2 -c 'import sphinx;print(repr(sphinx.main))' >&5 2>&5 ; then
-      AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
-    else
-      AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-      if test yes = "$with_python" ; then
-	AC_MSG_ERROR([Couldn't import sphinx module and call sphinx.main() for Python2 - try package python-sphinx])
-      fi
-      PYTHON2=
-    fi
+
     if test -n "$PYTHON2" ; then
       dnl Check that Python.h is there, which is a good way to check that
       dnl the appropriate python-dev package has been installed.
@@ -441,16 +432,7 @@ if test no != "$with_python3" ; then
 	fi
       fi
     fi
-    AC_MSG_CHECKING([for python3 sphinx module])
-    if $PYTHON3 -c 'import sphinx' >&5 2>&5 ; then
-      AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
-    else
-      AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-      if test yes = "$with_python3" ; then
-	AC_MSG_ERROR([Couldn't import sphinx module for Python3 - try package python3-sphinx])
-      fi
-      PYTHON3=
-    fi
+
     if test -n "$PYTHON3" ; then
       dnl Check that Python.h is there, which is a good way to check that
       dnl the appropriate python3-dev package has been installed.
diff --git a/xapian-bindings/python/Makefile.am b/xapian-bindings/python/Makefile.am
index 6731b3f..785e6dd 100644
--- a/xapian-bindings/python/Makefile.am
+++ b/xapian-bindings/python/Makefile.am
@@ -151,9 +151,8 @@ sphinxdocs = docs/html/index.html
 
 install-data-local:
 	$(mkinstalldirs) '$(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/python'
-	cp -R -p `test -r docs/html || echo '$(srcdir)/'`docs/html '$(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/python'
 
-all-local: $(sphinxdocs)
+all-local:
 
 $(sphinxdocs): xapian/__init__.py xapian/_xapian$(PYTHON2_SO) docs/conf.py $(RST_DOCS) $(dist_exampledata_DATA)
 ## We need to run Sphinx for the right version of Python here, so we can't
diff --git a/xapian-bindings/python3/Makefile.am b/xapian-bindings/python3/Makefile.am
index 14fd8bf..2f6c087 100644
--- a/xapian-bindings/python3/Makefile.am
+++ b/xapian-bindings/python3/Makefile.am
@@ -158,9 +158,8 @@ sphinxdocs = docs/html/index.html
 
 install-data-local:
 	$(mkinstalldirs) '$(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/python3'
-	cp -R -p `test -r docs/html || echo '$(srcdir)/'`docs/html '$(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/python3'
 
-all-local: $(sphinxdocs)
+all-local:
 
 $(sphinxdocs): xapian/__init__.py xapian/_xapian$(PYTHON3_SO) docs/conf.py $(RST_DOCS) $(dist_exampledata_DATA)
 	PYTHONPATH=..:$$PYTHONPATH $(OSX_SIP_HACK_ENV) $(PYTHON3) \