diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 029e060e1b..bb0c765b21 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,13 +27,7 @@ examples/**/sdkconfig.old
 examples/**/build
 
 # Doc build artifacts
-docs/*/_build/
-docs/*/doxygen-warning-log.txt
-docs/*/sphinx-warning-log.txt
-docs/*/sphinx-warning-log-sanitized.txt
-docs/*/xml/
-docs/*/xml_in/
-docs/*/man/
+docs/_build/
 docs/doxygen_sqlite3.db
 
 # Downloaded font files
diff --git a/docs/build_docs.py b/docs/build_docs.py
index 8581231257..c0a6263a45 100755
--- a/docs/build_docs.py
+++ b/docs/build_docs.py
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ def main():
         targets = [args.target]
 
     if args.action == "build" or args.action is None:
+        if args.action is None:
+            args.check_warnings_only = False
         sys.exit(action_build(args))
 
     if args.action == "linkcheck":
diff --git a/docs/idf_extensions/run_doxygen.py b/docs/idf_extensions/run_doxygen.py
index 32856ab664..9c18dd19d3 100644
--- a/docs/idf_extensions/run_doxygen.py
+++ b/docs/idf_extensions/run_doxygen.py
@@ -64,11 +64,12 @@ def generate_doxygen(app, project_description):
 
     # Call Doxygen to get XML files from the header files
     print("Calling Doxygen to generate latest XML files")
-    doxy_env = {
+    doxy_env = os.environ
+    doxy_env.update({
         "ENV_DOXYGEN_DEFINES": " ".join(defines),
         "IDF_PATH": app.config.idf_path,
         "IDF_TARGET": app.config.idf_target,
-    }
+    })
     doxyfile = os.path.join(app.config.docs_root, "Doxyfile")
     print("Running doxygen with doxyfile {}".format(doxyfile))
     # note: run Doxygen in the build directory, so the xml & xml_in files end up in there