diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
index 57ca58cd60..286a4733fd 100644
--- a/doc/requirements.txt
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 
 openstackdocstheme>=1.20.0 # Apache-2.0
 os-api-ref>=1.4.0 # Apache-2.0
-sphinx!=1.6.6,!=1.6.7,!=2.1.0,>=1.6.2;python_version>='3.4' # BSD
-sphinx!=1.6.6,!=1.6.7,>=1.6.2,<2.0.0;python_version=='2.7' # BSD
+sphinx>=1.8.0,!=2.1.0;python_version>='3.4' # BSD
+sphinx>=1.8.0,<2.0.0;python_version=='2.7' # BSD
 reno>=2.5.0 # Apache-2.0
 sphinxcontrib-apidoc>=0.2.0 # BSD
 sphinxcontrib-httpdomain>=1.3.0 # BSD
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index e5ca7e9947..67bb89f3fc 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -56,10 +56,12 @@ commands =
 
 [testenv:docs]
 basepython = python3
+whitelist_externals =
+  rm
 deps = -r{toxinidir}/doc/requirements.txt
 commands =
   rm -rf doc/build
-  sphinx-build -W -b html doc/source doc/build/html
+  sphinx-build -W --keep-going -b html doc/source doc/build/html
 
 [testenv:pdf-docs]
 basepython = python3
@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ deps = -r{toxinidir}/doc/requirements.txt
 whitelist_externals = rm
 commands =
   rm -rf api-ref/build
-  sphinx-build -W -b html -d api-ref/build/doctrees api-ref/source api-ref/build/html
+  sphinx-build -W --keep-going -b html -d api-ref/build/doctrees api-ref/source api-ref/build/html
 
 [testenv:genconfig]
 basepython = python3
@@ -128,8 +130,12 @@ commands = oslo_debug_helper {posargs}
 
 [testenv:releasenotes]
 basepython = python3
+whitelist_externals =
+  rm
 deps = -r{toxinidir}/doc/requirements.txt
-commands = sphinx-build -a -E -W -d releasenotes/build/doctrees -b html releasenotes/source releasenotes/build/html
+commands =
+  rm -rf releasenotes/build
+  sphinx-build -a -E -W -d releasenotes/build/doctrees --keep-going -b html releasenotes/source releasenotes/build/html
 
 [testenv:bindep]
 basepython = python3