diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/requirements.txt b/lib/spack/docs/requirements.txt
index 5febc679a2e..d59a9b62872 100644
--- a/lib/spack/docs/requirements.txt
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-sphinx==7.2.6
+sphinx==7.4.6
 sphinxcontrib-programoutput==0.17
 sphinx_design==0.6.0
 sphinx-rtd-theme==2.0.0
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py
index 40b25079051..0c5ac769c03 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/environment.py
@@ -718,9 +718,9 @@ def from_sourcing_file(
                 (default: ``&> /dev/null``)
             concatenate_on_success (str): operator used to execute a command
                 only when the previous command succeeds (default: ``&&``)
-            exclude ([str or re]): ignore any modifications of these
+            exclude ([str or re.Pattern[str]]): ignore any modifications of these
                 variables (default: [])
-            include ([str or re]): always respect modifications of these
+            include ([str or re.Pattern[str]]): always respect modifications of these
                 variables (default: []). Supersedes any excluded variables.
             clean (bool): in addition to removing empty entries,
                 also remove duplicate entries (default: False).