diff --git a/doc/CMakeLists.txt b/doc/CMakeLists.txt
index fd2aed95fe072df95fafa232bd4afe6a8dbd0990..ca8a6bab3510bc4495b6a8cce482d65e4e032915 100644
--- a/doc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/doc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -119,22 +119,16 @@ add_dependencies(doc man)
 # doctest target, one is enough for all
 set(_SPHINX_DOCTEST_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/doctest")
 file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${_SPHINX_DOCTEST_DIR})
-set(_SPHINX_DOCTEST_OUTPUT_TXT "${_SPHINX_DOCTEST_DIR}/output.txt")
-add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${_SPHINX_DOCTEST_OUTPUT_TXT}
-                   MAIN_DEPENDENCY "${_SPHINX_CONF_PY}"
-                   DEPENDS ${_RST_DEPS} ${_DOC_MODULE_DEPS}
-                   COMMAND ${SPHINX_BINARY} -b doctest -c "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_SPHINX_DOCTEST_DIR}")
-add_custom_target(doctest DEPENDS ${_SPHINX_DOCTEST_OUTPUT_TXT})
+add_custom_target(doctest
+                  COMMAND ${SPHINX_BINARY} -b doctest -c "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_SPHINX_DOCTEST_DIR}"
+                  DEPENDS "${_SPHINX_CONF_PY}" ${_RST_DEPS} ${_DOC_MODULE_DEPS})
 
 # linkcheck target
 set(_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/linkcheck")
 file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_DIR})
-set(_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_OUTPUT_TXT "${_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_DIR}/output.txt")
-add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_OUTPUT_TXT}
-                   MAIN_DEPENDENCY "${_SPHINX_CONF_PY}"
-                   DEPENDS ${_RST_DEPS} ${_DOC_MODULE_DEPS}
-                   COMMAND ${SPHINX_BINARY} -b linkcheck -c "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_DIR}")
-add_custom_target(linkcheck DEPENDS ${_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_OUTPUT_TXT})
+add_custom_target(linkcheck
+                  COMMAND ${SPHINX_BINARY} -b linkcheck -c "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_RST_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_SPHINX_LINKCHECK_DIR}"
+                  DEPENDS "${_SPHINX_CONF_PY}" ${_RST_DEPS} ${_DOC_MODULE_DEPS})
 
 # register doctest & linkcheck with check
 if(NOT DISABLE_DOCTEST)
diff --git a/doc/contributing.rst b/doc/contributing.rst
index e83104db1a5c72517b334c929b4f8bcde1623fce..2828fb187ebe8f6b13116d1e3e966d4e824ae3b1 100644
--- a/doc/contributing.rst
+++ b/doc/contributing.rst
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ will provide you with a target ``test_awesome_feature.py_run``.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Writing Documentation
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-To create documentation, we use |sphinx|_ to go from |restructuredtext|_
+To create documentation, we use |sphinx|_ to go from |restructuredtext|
 (|restructuredtext_abrv|) files and API documentation in source files to HTML
 or man pages.
 
@@ -555,7 +555,6 @@ Now tests should be available by ``make check``, ``make codetest`` and
 ``make test_something.py_run``.
 
 
-.. _restructuredtext: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
 .. |fedora| replace:: Fedora
 .. |nameattr| replace:: :attr:`__name__`