diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py
index feb82fe0edf..df208d8bbe7 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     r'^lib/spack/env/cc$',
 
     # rst files in documentation
-    r'^lib/spack/docs/.*\.rst$',
+    r'^lib/spack/docs/(?!command_index|spack|llnl).*\.rst$',
     r'^lib/spack/docs/.*\.py$',
 
     # 2 files in external