diff --git a/doc/build.py b/doc/build.py
index a7bfcf73..7df640bb 100755
--- a/doc/build.py
+++ b/doc/build.py
@@ -4,27 +4,9 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 import errno, os, shutil, sys, tempfile
 from subprocess import check_call, check_output, CalledProcessError, Popen, PIPE
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 versions = ['1.0.0', '1.1.0', '2.0.0', '3.0.2', '4.0.0', '4.1.0', '5.0.0', '5.1.0', '5.2.0', '5.2.1', '5.3.0', '6.0.0', '6.1.0', '6.1.1', '6.1.2', '6.2.0']
 
-def pip_install(package, commit=None, **kwargs):
-  "Install package using pip."
-  min_version = kwargs.get('min_version')
-  if min_version:
-    from pkg_resources import get_distribution, DistributionNotFound
-    try:
-      installed_version = get_distribution(os.path.basename(package)).version
-      if LooseVersion(installed_version) >= min_version:
-        print('{} {} already installed'.format(package, min_version))
-        return
-    except DistributionNotFound:
-      pass
-  if commit:
-    package = 'git+https://github.com/{0}.git@{1}'.format(package, commit)
-  print('Installing {0}'.format(package))
-  check_call(['pip', 'install', package])
-
 def create_build_env(dirname='virtualenv'):
   # Create virtualenv.
   if not os.path.exists(dirname):
@@ -34,30 +16,6 @@ def create_build_env(dirname='virtualenv'):
   activate_this_file = os.path.join(dirname, scripts_dir, 'activate_this.py')
   with open(activate_this_file) as f:
     exec(f.read(), dict(__file__=activate_this_file))
-  # Import get_distribution after activating virtualenv to get info about
-  # the correct packages.
-  from pkg_resources import get_distribution, DistributionNotFound
-  # Upgrade pip because installation of sphinx with pip 1.1 available on Travis
-  # is broken (see #207) and it doesn't support the show command.
-  pip_version = get_distribution('pip').version
-  if LooseVersion(pip_version) < LooseVersion('1.5.4'):
-    print("Updating pip")
-    check_call(['pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'pip'])
-  # Upgrade distribute because installation of sphinx with distribute 0.6.24
-  # available on Travis is broken (see #207).
-  try:
-    distribute_version = get_distribution('distribute').version
-    if LooseVersion(distribute_version) <= LooseVersion('0.6.24'):
-      print("Updating distribute")
-      check_call(['pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'distribute'])
-  except DistributionNotFound:
-    pass
-  # Install Sphinx and Breathe.
-  pip_install('sphinx-doc/sphinx', '12b83372ac9316e8cbe86e7fed889296a4cc29ee',
-              min_version='1.4.1.dev20160531')
-  pip_install('michaeljones/breathe',
-              '129222318f7c8f865d2631e7da7b033567e7f56a',
-              min_version='4.2.0')
 
 def build_docs(version='dev', **kwargs):
   doc_dir = kwargs.get('doc_dir', os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)))
-- 
2.25.1