diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
index beaeb67bc63..39af8918fb9 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -9,11 +9,6 @@ BUILDDIR      = _build
 SPHINXLANG    =
 XELATEX       = xelatex
 
-# User-friendly check for sphinx-build
-ifeq ($(shell which $(SPHINXBUILD) >/dev/null 2>&1; echo $$?), 1)
-$(error The '$(SPHINXBUILD)' command was not found. Make sure you have Sphinx installed, then set the SPHINXBUILD environment variable to point to the full path of the '$(SPHINXBUILD)' executable. Alternatively you can add the directory with the executable to your PATH. If you don't have Sphinx installed, grab it from http://sphinx-doc.org/)
-endif
-
 # ----- Translations Support ------------------------------------------------>
 #  If language is set, also set translation options
 ifeq ($(shell [ "x$(SPHINXLANG)" != "x" ] && echo 0 || echo 1), 0)
@@ -36,7 +31,7 @@ ALLSPHINXOPTS   = -d $(BUILDDIR)/doctrees $(PAPEROPT_$(PAPER)) $(TRANSLATIONOPTS
 # the i18n builder cannot share the environment and doctrees with the others
 I18NSPHINXOPTS  = $(PAPEROPT_$(PAPER)) $(SPHINXOPTS) .
 
-.PHONY: help clean html dirhtml singlehtml pickle json htmlhelp qthelp devhelp epub latex latexpdf text man changes linkcheck doctest gettext translations download-translations
+.PHONY: help clean check_sphinx-build html dirhtml singlehtml pickle json htmlhelp qthelp devhelp epub latex latexpdf text man changes linkcheck doctest gettext translations download-translations
 
 help:
 	@echo "Please use \`make <target>' where <target> is one of"
@@ -69,38 +64,42 @@ clean:
 	rm -rf $(BUILDDIR)/*
 	test -d 'locale' && find locale/ -name *.mo -exec rm {} \; || true
 
-html: translations
+# User-friendly check for sphinx-build
+check_sphinx-build:
+	@which $(SPHINXBUILD) >/dev/null 2>&1 || (echo "The '$(SPHINXBUILD)' command was not found. Make sure you have Sphinx installed, then set the SPHINXBUILD environment variable to point to the full path of the '$(SPHINXBUILD)' executable. Alternatively you can add the directory with the executable to your PATH. If you don't have Sphinx installed, grab it from http://sphinx-doc.org/)" >&2; false)
+
+html: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b html $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/html
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The HTML pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/html."
 
-dirhtml: translations
+dirhtml: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b dirhtml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/dirhtml
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The HTML pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/dirhtml."
 
-singlehtml: translations
+singlehtml: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b singlehtml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/singlehtml
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The HTML page is in $(BUILDDIR)/singlehtml."
 
-pickle: translations
+pickle: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b pickle $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/pickle
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished; now you can process the pickle files."
 
-json: translations
+json: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b json $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/json
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished; now you can process the JSON files."
 
-htmlhelp: translations
+htmlhelp: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b htmlhelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/htmlhelp
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished; now you can run HTML Help Workshop with the" \
 	      ".hhp project file in $(BUILDDIR)/htmlhelp."
 
-qthelp: translations
+qthelp: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b qthelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/qthelp
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished; now you can run "qcollectiongenerator" with the" \
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ qthelp: translations
 	@echo "To view the help file:"
 	@echo "# assistant -collectionFile $(BUILDDIR)/qthelp/Salt.qhc"
 
-devhelp: translations
+devhelp: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b devhelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/devhelp
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished."
@@ -118,31 +117,31 @@ devhelp: translations
 	@echo "# ln -s $(BUILDDIR)/devhelp $$HOME/.local/share/devhelp/Salt"
 	@echo "# devhelp"
 
-epub: translations
+epub: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b epub $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/epub
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The epub file is in $(BUILDDIR)/epub."
 
-latex: translations
+latex: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b latex $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/latex
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished; the LaTeX files are in $(BUILDDIR)/latex."
 	@echo "Run \`make' in that directory to run these through (pdf)latex" \
 	      "(use \`make latexpdf' here to do that automatically)."
 
-latexpdf: translations
+latexpdf: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b latex $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/latex
 	@echo "Running LaTeX files through pdflatex..."
 	$(MAKE) -C $(BUILDDIR)/latex all-pdf
 	@echo "pdflatex finished; the PDF files are in $(BUILDDIR)/latex."
 
-latexpdfja: translations
+latexpdfja: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b latex $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/latex
 	@echo "Running LaTeX files through platex and dvipdfmx..."
 	$(MAKE) -C $(BUILDDIR)/latex all-pdf-ja
 	@echo "pdflatex finished; the PDF files are in $(BUILDDIR)/latex."
 
-pdf: translations
+pdf: check_sphinx-build translations
 	@if [ "$(XELATEX)"  = "xelatex" ] || [ "x$(XELATEX)" = "x" ]; then \
 		echo "The '$(XELATEX)' command was not found."; \
 	fi
@@ -157,62 +156,62 @@ cheatsheet: translations
 	cd cheatsheet &&  xelatex salt.tex && cp salt.pdf ../salt-cheatsheet.pdf
 	@echo "./salt-cheatsheet.pdf created."
 
-text: translations
+text: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b text $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/text
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The text files are in $(BUILDDIR)/text."
 
-man: translations
+man: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b man $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/man
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The manual pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/man."
 
-texinfo: translations
+texinfo: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b texinfo $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/texinfo
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The Texinfo files are in $(BUILDDIR)/texinfo."
 	@echo "Run \`make' in that directory to run these through makeinfo" \
 	      "(use \`make info' here to do that automatically)."
 
-info: translations
+info: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b texinfo $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/texinfo
 	@echo "Running Texinfo files through makeinfo..."
 	make -C $(BUILDDIR)/texinfo info
 	@echo "makeinfo finished; the Info files are in $(BUILDDIR)/texinfo."
 
-gettext:
+gettext: check_sphinx-build
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b gettext $(I18NSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/locale
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The message catalogs are in $(BUILDDIR)/locale"
 
-changes: translations
+changes: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b changes $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/changes
 	@echo
 	@echo "The overview file is in $(BUILDDIR)/changes."
 
-spelling:
+spelling: check_sphinx-build
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b spelling $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/spelling
 	@echo
 	@echo "Spell check complete; look for any errors in the above output " \
 	      "or in $(BUILDDIR)/spelling/output.txt."
 
-linkcheck:
+linkcheck: check_sphinx-build
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b linkcheck $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/linkcheck
 	@echo
 	@echo "Link check complete; look for any errors in the above output " \
 	      "or in $(BUILDDIR)/linkcheck/output.txt."
 
-doctest:
+doctest: check_sphinx-build
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b doctest $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/doctest
 	@echo "Testing of doctests in the sources finished, look at the " \
 	      "results in $(BUILDDIR)/doctest/output.txt."
 
-xml: translations
+xml: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b xml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/xml
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The XML files are in $(BUILDDIR)/xml."
 
-pseudoxml: translations
+pseudoxml: check_sphinx-build translations
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b pseudoxml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/pseudoxml
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The pseudo-XML files are in $(BUILDDIR)/pseudoxml."