The last step is to run sphinx-build, and that is what uses conf.py. Before that, the following is done: - Compile the code/module - Run the example code cap

The last step is to run sphinx-build, and that is what uses conf.py. Before that, the following is done: - Compile the code/module - Run the example code capturing various pieces of output, putting the final result into a generated .rst file - Generating more .rst files from various C file sources - Some additional doc updates (eg inserting some version related info, updating help sections with current --help information for cli tools). These are up to date in git, so rtd wouldn't need to run them, but I do for each release