diff --git a/Makefile.sphinx b/Makefile.sphinx
index 2f2b78a..0af4b0f 100644
--- a/Makefile.sphinx
+++ b/Makefile.sphinx
@@ -1,52 +1,53 @@
 # Makefile to be included by other modules, from the TOPLEVEL/docs/ dir, to
 # automatically build sphinx documentation.
 
 APIDOC_DIR = apidoc
 APIDOC_OPTS = --ext-viewcode --separate
 SPHINXBUILD = sphinx-build
 SPHINXAPIDOC = sphinx-apidoc
 SPHINX_OPTS =
 SPHINX_BUILDDIR = _build
 SPHINX_SRCDIR = .
 
 # relative to docs/ dir. Hence "." exclude the docs/ dir itself
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES = . ../setup.py ../conftest.py ../swh/*/conftest.py
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES += ../swh/*/tests ../swh/*/tests/* ../swh/*/*/tests/* ../swh/*/*/*/tests/*
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES += ../swh/*/migrations ../swh/*/migrations/* ../swh/*/*/migrations/* ../swh/*/*/*/migrations/*
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES += ../bin ../dist ../utils ../node_modules
+APIDOC_EXCLUDES = conftest.py setup.py
+APIDOC_EXCLUDES += */tests/* */migrations/* */wsgi.py */conftest.py
+APIDOC_EXCLUDES += deposit/settings/* web/settings/* dataset/*
+APIDOC_EXCLUDES += bin build dist utils node_modules
+APIDOC_SWH_EXCLUDES = $(patsubst %,"../%",$(APIDOC_EXCLUDES))
 
 html: sphinx/html
 help: sphinx/help
 
 # allow to skip apidoc generation, for modules where the overall documentation
 # structure, table of contents, etc., is manually curated
 ifeq ($(SKIP_APIDOC),yes)
 apidoc_dep =
 else
 apidoc_dep = apidoc-stamp
 endif
 
 sphinx/clean:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -M clean $(SPHINX_SRCDIR) $(SPHINX_BUILDDIR) $(SPHINXOPTS)
+	$(SPHINXBUILD) -M clean $(SPHINX_SRCDIR) $(SPHINX_BUILDDIR) $(SPHINX_OPTS)
 sphinx/%: $(apidoc_dep)
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b $* $(SPHINX_SRCDIR) $(SPHINX_BUILDDIR)/$* $(SPHINXOPTS)
+	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b $* $(SPHINX_SRCDIR) $(SPHINX_BUILDDIR)/$* $(SPHINX_OPTS)
 
 apidoc: $(apidoc_dep)
 apidoc-stamp:
-	$(SPHINXAPIDOC) $(APIDOC_OPTS) -o $(APIDOC_DIR) .. $(APIDOC_EXCLUDES)
+	$(SPHINXAPIDOC) $(APIDOC_OPTS) -o $(APIDOC_DIR) .. $(APIDOC_SWH_EXCLUDES)
 	# to silent Sphinx warnings about apidoc documents not included in any toctree
 	find $(shell pwd)/apidoc -name "*.rst" | xargs sed -i '1i:orphan:\n'
 	touch $@
 
 assets:
 
 .PHONY: clean clean-apidoc
 clean: sphinx/clean clean-apidoc
 clean-apidoc:
 	rm -rf $(APIDOC_DIR)
 	rm -f *-stamp
 
 
 # Local Variables:
 # mode: makefile
 # End:
diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index 2f9fafd..aa4a0f8 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -1,84 +1,81 @@
 SPHINXOPTS ?=
 SPHINXOPTCOLOR ?= --color
 SPHINXBUILD = sphinx-build
 SOURCEDIR = .
 BUILDDIR = _build
 HTMLDIR = $(BUILDDIR)/html
 SWHPKGDIR ?= sources/swh/
 
 INSTALL_HOST = pergamon.internal.softwareheritage.org
 INSTALL_DIR = /srv/softwareheritage/docs/webroot/devel
 INSTALL_GROUP = swhdev
 INSTALL_PERMS = g+rwX
 
 SPHINXAPIDOC = sphinx-apidoc
 APIDOC_DIR = apidoc
 APIDOC_OPTS = --ext-viewcode --separate --no-toc
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES = */tests */tests/* */*/tests/* */*/*/tests/*
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES += */migrations */migrations/* */*/migrations/* */*/*/migrations/*
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES += */wsgi.py */*/wsgi.py */*/*/wsgi.py
-APIDOC_EXCLUDES += */conftest.py */*/conftest.py */*/*/conftest.py
+APIDOC_EXCLUDES = */tests */migrations */wsgi.py */conftest.py */setup.py
 APIDOC_EXCLUDES += deposit/settings/* web/settings/* dataset/*
-APIDOC_SWH_EXCLUDES = $(patsubst %,$(SWHPKGDIR)/%,$(APIDOC_EXCLUDES))
+APIDOC_SWH_EXCLUDES = $(patsubst %,"$(SWHPKGDIR)/%",$(APIDOC_EXCLUDES))
 
 html: sphinx/html
 
 sphinx/html: links-stamp apidoc-stamp images-stamp rec-build-stamp
 
 links-stamp:
 	mkdir -p sources/swh
 	bin/ln-sphinx-subprojects
 	touch $@
 
 apidoc: apidoc-stamp
 apidoc-stamp: links-stamp
 	$(SPHINXAPIDOC) \
 		--implicit-namespaces \
 		--templatedir=../swh/docs/templates/ \
 		--maxdepth=3 \
 		$(APIDOC_OPTS) \
 		-o $(APIDOC_DIR) \
 		$(SWHPKGDIR) \
 		$(APIDOC_SWH_EXCLUDES)
 	touch $@
 	# remove warning about swh.rst not being included in any toctree
 	sed -i '1s/^/:orphan:\n\n/' $(APIDOC_DIR)/swh.rst
 
 images-stamp:
 	$(MAKE) -C images
 	$(MAKE) -C swh-deposit/images
 	touch $@
 
 # Build documentation recursively in all packages, to make sure that auxiliary,
 # non-sphinx managed documentation artifacts (e.g., schema diagrams) are also
 # built.
 rec-build-stamp: $(wildcard ../../swh-*/docs/*.rst)
 	$(MAKE) -C ../../ docs-assets
 	touch $@
 
 clean: sphinx/clean
 	bin/ln-sphinx-subprojects --remove
 	$(MAKE) -C images clean
 	rm -f *-stamp
 	rm -f $(APIDOC_DIR)/*
 
 distclean: clean
 	make -C ../../ docs-clean
 
 help: sphinx/help
 
 sphinx/clean:
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -M clean "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(SPHINXOPTCOLOR)
 
 sphinx/%:
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b $* "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)/$*" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(SPHINXOPTCOLOR)
 
 install: html
 	test -d $(HTMLDIR)
 	rsync -rlvuz --delete $(BUILDDIR)/html/ $(INSTALL_HOST):$(INSTALL_DIR)/
 	ssh $(INSTALL_HOST) \
 		"find $(INSTALL_DIR) -not -group $(INSTALL_GROUP) -exec chgrp -v $(INSTALL_GROUP) {} + ; \
 		 find $(INSTALL_DIR) -not -perm -ug=rw,o=r -exec chmod -v ug+rw,o+r {} + ; \
 		 find $(INSTALL_DIR) -type d -not -perm -g=xs,ou=x -exec chmod -v g+xs,ou+x {} +"
 
 .PHONY: help html clean distclean install images-stamp