diff --git a/Makefile.prte-rules b/Makefile.prte-rules
index eb50a1855b..27b38eda3e 100644
--- a/Makefile.prte-rules
+++ b/Makefile.prte-rules
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2008-2022 Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
 # Copyright (c) 2008      Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
 # Copyright (c) 2020      Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2023      Jeffrey M. Squyres.  All rights reserved.
 # $COPYRIGHT$
 #
 # Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -22,8 +23,8 @@ PRTE_V_SPHINX_MAN = $(prte__v_SPHINX_MAN_$V)
 prte__v_SPHINX_MAN_ = $(prte__v_SPHINX_MAN_$AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY)
 prte__v_SPHINX_MAN_0 = @echo "  GENERATE man pages";
 
-PRTE_V_TXT = $(prte__v_SPHINX_TXT_$V)
-prte__v_TXT_ = $(prte__v_SPHINX_TXT_$AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY)
+PRTE_V_TXT = $(prte__v_TXT_$V)
+prte__v_TXT_ = $(prte__v_TXT_$AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY)
 prte__v_TXT_0 = @echo "  GENERATE text files";
 
 PRTE_V_LN_S = $(prte__v_LN_S_$V)
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f513641428..7a25a4a8a4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -718,6 +718,7 @@ AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT
 #
 
 OAC_SETUP_SPHINX([$srcdir/docs/_build/html/index.html], [])
+AC_CHECK_PROGS(PYTHON, [python3 python python2])
 
 AS_IF([test -n "$OAC_MAKEDIST_DISABLE"],
       [AS_IF([test -n "$PRTE_MAKEDIST_DISABLE"],
diff --git a/src/docs/show-help-files/Makefile.am b/src/docs/show-help-files/Makefile.am
index 37be796efd..f25f919249 100644
--- a/src/docs/show-help-files/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/docs/show-help-files/Makefile.am
@@ -96,7 +96,9 @@ $(TXT_SENTINEL_OUTPUT):
 if PRTE_BUILD_DOCS
 	$(PRTE_V_TXT) $(SPHINX_BUILD) -M text "$(srcdir)" "$(OUTDIR)" $(SPHINX_OPTS)
 else !PRTE_BUILD_DOCS
-	$(PRTE_V_TXT) $(srcdir)/build-dummy-ini-files.py $(TXT_OUTDIR) $(ALL_TXT_BUILT)
+	$(PRTE_V_TXT) \
+	$(PYTHON) $(srcdir)/build-dummy-ini-files.py $(TXT_OUTDIR) $(ALL_TXT_BUILT); \
+	touch $(TXT_SENTINEL_OUTPUT)
 endif !PRTE_BUILD_DOCS
 
 maintainer-clean-local:
diff --git a/src/docs/show-help-files/build-dummy-ini-files.py b/src/docs/show-help-files/build-dummy-ini-files.py
index d17364cd9a..57781cb57a 100755
--- a/src/docs/show-help-files/build-dummy-ini-files.py
+++ b/src/docs/show-help-files/build-dummy-ini-files.py
@@ -63,10 +63,13 @@
 
     # Ensure the out directory exists
     full_outdir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(outfile))
-    # Use older form of os.mkdirs (without the exist_ok param) to make
-    # this script runnable in as many environments as possible.
+    if not os.path.exists(full_outdir):
+        # Use older form of os.mkdirs (without the exist_ok param) to
+        # make this script runnable in as many environments as
+        # possible.
+        os.makedirs(full_outdir)
+
     try:
-        os.makedirs(full_outdir, exists_ok=True)
         # Write the output file
         with open(outfile, 'w') as fp:
             for section in sections:
@@ -74,5 +77,6 @@
                 # we don't have Python 3 (!).
                 fp.write("""[{}]
     This help section is empty because PRRTE was built without Sphinx.\n""".format(section))
-    except Exception:
+    except Exception as e:
+        print("ERROR: {}".format(e))
         pass