diff --git a/roles/sphinx/README.rst b/roles/sphinx/README.rst
index 7bfb34000..fcad72530 100644
--- a/roles/sphinx/README.rst
+++ b/roles/sphinx/README.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ Run sphinx to generate documentation
 
    Which sphinx builders to run.
 
+.. zuul:rolevar:: sphinx_warning_is_error
+
+   Whether to treat sphinx build warnings as errors. Defaults to undefined
+   which means to attempt to find the setting in a setup.cfg file.
+
 .. zuul:rolevar:: zuul_work_virtualenv
    :default: ~/.venv
 
diff --git a/roles/sphinx/library/sphinx_check_warning_is_error.py b/roles/sphinx/library/sphinx_check_warning_is_error.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a86a63cc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/sphinx/library/sphinx_check_warning_is_error.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+# Copyright (c) 2017 Red Hat
+#
+# This module is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this software.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+DOCUMENTATION = '''
+---
+module: sphinx_check_warning_is_error
+short_description: Read the warning-is-error setting from setup.cfg
+author: Monty Taylor (@mordred)
+description:
+  - When running sphinx using sphinx-build and not using python setup.py
+    build_sphinx there is no way to set warning-is-error in a config file.
+    The sphinx-build command expects the -W flag to be passed. Read the setting
+    from a setup.cfg file if one exists.
+requirements:
+  - "python >= 3.5"
+options:
+  project_dir:
+    description:
+      - The directory in which the project we care about is in.
+    required: true
+    type: str
+'''
+
+try:
+    import configparser
+except ImportError:
+    import ConfigParser as configparser
+
+import os
+
+from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
+
+
+def main():
+    module = AnsibleModule(
+        argument_spec=dict(
+            project_dir=dict(required=True, type='str'),
+        )
+    )
+    project_dir = module.params['project_dir']
+
+    if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(project_dir, 'setup.cfg')):
+        module.exit_json(
+            changed=False,
+            warning_is_error=False,
+            msg="No setup.cfg, no action needed")
+
+    try:
+        c = configparser.ConfigParser()
+        c.read(os.path.join(project_dir, 'setup.cfg'))
+        warning_is_error = c.getboolean('build_sphinx', 'warning-is-error')
+    except Exception:
+        module.exit_json(
+            changed=False,
+            warning_is_error=False,
+            msg="Setting not found in setup.cfg, defaulting to false")
+    module.exit_json(
+        changed=False,
+        warning_is_error=warning_is_error,
+        msg="warning_is_error setting found in build_sphinx section")
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/roles/sphinx/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/sphinx/tasks/main.yaml
index b057231f7..bdd51da07 100644
--- a/roles/sphinx/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/sphinx/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,21 @@
+- name: Attempt to get warning-is-error from config file
+  when: sphinx_warning_is_error is not defined
+  sphinx_check_warning_is_error:
+    project_dir: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}"
+  register: check_result
+
+- name: Set sphinx_warning_is_error
+  when: sphinx_warning_is_error is not defined
+  set_fact:
+    sphinx_warning_is_error: "{{ check_result.warning_is_error }}"
+
 - name: Run sphinx
   command:
-    cmd: "{{ zuul_work_virtualenv }}/bin/sphinx-build -b {{ item }} {{ sphinx_source_dir }} {{ sphinx_build_dir }}/{{ item }}"
+    cmd: >
+      {{ zuul_work_virtualenv }}/bin/sphinx-build
+        -b {{ item }}
+        {% if sphinx_warning_is_error %} -W {% endif %}
+        {{ sphinx_source_dir }} {{ sphinx_build_dir }}/{{ item }}
     chdir: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}"
   with_items: "{{ sphinx_builders }}"