diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py b/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
index a58253f4..884ca83b 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
                 'matplotlib.pyplot',
                 'numpy',
                 'numpy.lib',
-                'numpy.lib.format',
                 'numpy.lib.utils',
                 'numpy.compat',
                 'IPython',
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7ac9446e..95cd5aa0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,9 +4,21 @@
 #  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  See COPYING.rst.
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+import os
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 from distarray.__version__ import __version__
 
+# let our mocks work on ReadTheDocs
+on_rtd = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS', None) == 'True'
+if on_rtd:
+    install_requires = []
+else:
+    install_requires = [
+        'ipyparallel',
+        'numpy',
+        'mpi4py'
+    ]
+
 
 def parse_readme(filename='README.rst', sentinel="README"):
     """
@@ -25,12 +37,6 @@ def parse_readme(filename='README.rst', sentinel="README"):
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
 
-    install_requires = [
-        'ipyparallel',
-        'numpy',
-        'mpi4py'
-    ]
-
     metadata = {
         'name': 'distarray',
         'version': __version__,