diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/conf.py b/lib/spack/docs/conf.py
index 71e519630e3..aa9d1cddc4b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/docs/conf.py
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/conf.py
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ def setup(sphinx):
 
 # List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
 # directories to ignore when looking for source files.
-exclude_patterns = ["_build", "_spack_root", ".spack-env"]
+exclude_patterns = ["_build", "_spack_root", ".spack-env", "spack/package.py"]
 
 nitpicky = True
 nitpick_ignore = [