diff --git a/conf.py b/conf.py
index 585052cb6..81b9b8f6d 100644
--- a/conf.py
+++ b/conf.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ document_scripts()
 # -- General configuration ------------------------------------------------
 
 # If your documentation needs a minimal Sphinx version, state it here.
-#needs_sphinx = '1.0'
+needs_sphinx = '1.3'
 
 # Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
 # extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ templates_path = []
 
 # The suffix(es) of source filenames.
 # You can specify multiple suffix as a list of string:
-source_suffix = '.rst'
+source_suffix = ['.rst']
 
 # The encoding of source files.
 #source_encoding = 'utf-8-sig'
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ language = None
 
 # List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
 # directories to ignore when looking for source files.
-exclude_patterns = ['docs/_build/*', 'depends/*', 'scripts/3rdparty/*', 'build*']
+exclude_patterns = ['README.md', 'docs/_build/*', 'depends/*', 'scripts/3rdparty/*', 'build*']
 
 # The reST default role (used for this markup: `text`) to use for all
 # documents.