diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index 34f73d1ccaf..3ec9ca41f78 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -7,11 +7,6 @@ SPHINXBUILD   = sphinx-build
 PAPER         =
 BUILDDIR      = _build
 
-# 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
-
 # Internal variables.
 PAPEROPT_a4     = -D latex_paper_size=a4
 PAPEROPT_letter = -D latex_paper_size=letter