diff --git a/docs/build_docs.py b/docs/build_docs.py
index 877179bd33..9dc902f69c 100755
--- a/docs/build_docs.py
+++ b/docs/build_docs.py
@@ -161,8 +161,7 @@ def sphinx_call(language, target, build_dir, sphinx_parallel_jobs, buildername):
     try:
         os.makedirs(build_dir)
     except OSError:
-        print("Cannot call Sphinx in an existing directory!")
-        return 1
+        pass
 
     environ = {}
     environ.update(os.environ)