diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pmix/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pmix/package.py
index 7b5c095edeb..651c41689f7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pmix/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/pmix/package.py
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def find_external_lib_path(self, pkg_name, path_match_str=""):
     def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
 
-        config_args = ["--enable-shared", "--enable-static"]
+        config_args = ["--enable-shared", "--enable-static", "--disable-sphinx"]
 
         config_args.append("--with-libevent=" + spec["libevent"].prefix)
         config_args.append("--with-hwloc=" + spec["hwloc"].prefix)
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/prrte/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/prrte/package.py
index ca26c89b44c..b41c28c663c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/prrte/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/prrte/package.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
 
     def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
-        config_args = ["--enable-shared", "--enable-static"]
+        config_args = ["--enable-shared", "--enable-static", "--disable-sphinx"]
 
         # libevent
         config_args.append("--with-libevent={0}".format(spec["libevent"].prefix))