diff --git a/actions/doc/index_dev.rst b/actions/doc/index_dev.rst
index d88a707502036ca6c2bec6cac0fedc3c43997b3e..921bf3247062d6d152b96138aee3dbdcb603a82f 100644
--- a/actions/doc/index_dev.rst
+++ b/actions/doc/index_dev.rst
@@ -265,6 +265,8 @@ To get the test for exit code ``0`` talking to you, just do
 .. testcode:: actiontest
   :hide:
 
+  # hack needed to see output
+  ost.PushVerbosityLevel(2)
   import unittest
 
   class DoAwesomeActionTests(test_actions.ActionTestCase):
diff --git a/doc/conf.py.in b/doc/conf.py.in
index f9a16c1468930528a509f9d31cb1015e354e200a..7d7c5d4147565645161b87a0cbc91e47cf3097f6 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py.in
+++ b/doc/conf.py.in
@@ -299,8 +299,10 @@ rst_epilog = """
 # increase default timeout (5s) for linkcheck
 linkcheck_timeout = 15.0
 
-# in some versions of sphinx, doctest invokes doctest_path AFTER executing code
+# global setup for doctests (will be executed before any testcode block)
 doctest_global_setup = """
+# in some versions of sphinx, doctest invokes doctest_path AFTER executing code
+# hence we set paths here...
 import sys
 sys.path.insert(0, '@LIB_STAGE_PATH@/@PYTHON_MODULE_PATH@')
 sys.path.insert(1, '@OST_PYMOD_PATH@')
@@ -322,6 +324,7 @@ class DocTestLogger(ost.LogSink):
 
 doctest_logger = DocTestLogger()
 ost.PushLogSink(doctest_logger)
+ost.PushVerbosityLevel(0)
 """
 
 #  LocalWords:  cmake