diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
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+# Makefile for Sphinx documentation
+
+# use bash for pushd/popd, and to fail quickly
+SHELL = bash -e -o pipefail
+
+# You can set these variables from the command line.
+SPHINXOPTS   ?= -W
+SPHINXBUILD  ?= sphinx-build
+SOURCEDIR    ?= .
+BUILDDIR     ?= _build
+
+# name of python virtualenv that is used to run commands
+VENV_NAME      := venv-docs
+
+.PHONY: help test lint doc8 reload Makefile prep
+
+# Put it first so that "make" without argument is like "make help".
+help: $(VENV_NAME)
+	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
+  $(SPHINXBUILD) -M help "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)
+
+# Create the virtualenv with all the tools installed
+$(VENV_NAME):
+	python3 -m venv $(VENV_NAME) ;\
+  source $@/bin/activate ;\
+  pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+# automatically reload changes in browser as they're made
+reload: $(VENV_NAME)
+	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
+  sphinx-reload $(SOURCEDIR)
+
+# lint and link verification. linkcheck is part of sphinx
+test: lint spelling linkcheck
+
+lint: doc8
+
+doc8: $(VENV_NAME) | $(OTHER_REPO_DOCS)
+	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
+  doc8 --max-line-length 119 \
+  $$(find . -name \*.rst ! -path "*venv*" ! -path "*vendor*" ! -path "*repos*" )
+
+# clean up
+clean:
+	rm -rf $(BUILDDIR)
+
+clean-all: clean
+	rm -rf $(VENV_NAME)
+
+# build multiple versions
+multiversion: $(VENV_NAME) Makefile | prep $(OTHER_REPO_DOCS)
+	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
+  sphinx-multiversion "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)/multiversion" $(SPHINXOPTS)
+	cp "$(SOURCEDIR)/_templates/meta_refresh.html" "$(BUILDDIR)/multiversion/index.html"
+
+# Catch-all target: route all unknown targets to Sphinx using the new
+# "make mode" option.  $(O) is meant as a shortcut for $(SPHINXOPTS).
+%: $(VENV_NAME) Makefile | $(OTHER_REPO_DOCS) $(STATIC_DOCS)
+	source $</bin/activate ; set -u ;\
+  $(SPHINXBUILD) -M $@ "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)