diff --git a/.spin/cmds.py b/.spin/cmds.py
index 656625afe2a9..ea994c38311e 100644
--- a/.spin/cmds.py
+++ b/.spin/cmds.py
@@ -75,13 +75,8 @@ def build(ctx, meson_args, jobs=None, clean=False, verbose=False):
     default="auto",
     help="Number of parallel build jobs"
 )
-@click.option(
-    "--install-deps/--no-install-deps",
-    default=False,
-    help="Install dependencies before building"
-)
 @click.pass_context
-def docs(ctx, sphinx_target, clean, first_build, jobs, install_deps):
+def docs(ctx, sphinx_target, clean, first_build, jobs):
     """📖 Build Sphinx documentation
 
     By default, SPHINXOPTS="-W", raising errors on warnings.
@@ -97,13 +92,12 @@ def docs(ctx, sphinx_target, clean, first_build, jobs, install_deps):
 
       spin docs TARGET
 
-    """
-    if sphinx_target not in ('targets', 'help'):
-        if install_deps:
-            util.run(['pip', 'install', '-q', '-r', 'doc_requirements.txt'])
+    E.g., to build a zipfile of the html docs for distribution:
+
+      spin docs dist
 
+    """
     meson.docs.ignore_unknown_options = True
-    del ctx.params['install_deps']
     ctx.forward(meson.docs)
 
 
diff --git a/doc/HOWTO_RELEASE.rst b/doc/HOWTO_RELEASE.rst
index 032d51780e9d..d4dbb504ea5d 100644
--- a/doc/HOWTO_RELEASE.rst
+++ b/doc/HOWTO_RELEASE.rst
@@ -100,12 +100,11 @@ github actions.
 
 Building docs
 -------------
-We are no longer building ``PDF`` files. All that will be needed is
+We are no longer building pdf files, only html docs. The ``numpy-html.zip``
+needed to upload to the doc server can be built with ``spin docs dist``.
 
-- virtualenv (pip).
-
-The other requirements will be filled automatically during the documentation
-build process.
+To install the necessary doc build dependencies into your development
+environment, run ``pip install -r doc_requirements.txt``.
 
 
 Uploading to PyPI
diff --git a/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/index.rst b/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/index.rst
index 368f5fcd5676..ffe0425ebad7 100644
--- a/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/index.rst
+++ b/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/index.rst
@@ -4,8 +4,12 @@
 Extending `numpy.random` via Cython
 -----------------------------------
 
+.. _note:
+
+Starting with NumPy 1.26.0, Meson is the default build system for NumPy.
+See :ref:`distutils-status-migration`.
 
 .. toctree::
-    setup.py.rst
+    meson.build.rst
     extending.pyx
     extending_distributions.pyx
diff --git a/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/setup.py.rst b/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/meson.build.rst
similarity index 68%
rename from doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/setup.py.rst
rename to doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/meson.build.rst
index bc7a74c59382..ed4fd9b6a2d4 100644
--- a/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/setup.py.rst
+++ b/doc/source/reference/random/examples/cython/meson.build.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-setup.py
---------
+meson.build
+-----------
 
-.. literalinclude:: ../../../../../../numpy/random/_examples/cython/setup.py
+.. literalinclude:: ../../../../../../numpy/random/_examples/cython/meson.build
     :language: python
diff --git a/doc/source/user/building.rst b/doc/source/user/building.rst
index c3fa350a74e4..3c728f99cc5c 100644
--- a/doc/source/user/building.rst
+++ b/doc/source/user/building.rst
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Building NumPy requires the following software installed:
    can be used, including optimized LAPACK libraries such as OpenBLAS or MKL.
    The choice and location of these libraries as well as include paths and
    other such build options can be specified in a ``.pc`` file, as documented in
-   :ref:`scipy:using-pkg-config-to-detect-libraries-in-a-nonstandard-location`.
+   :ref:`scipy:building-blas-and-lapack`.
 
 4) Cython
 
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ file.
 Cross compilation
 -----------------
 
-For cross compilation instructions, see :doc:`scipy:cross_compilation` and the
-`Meson documentation <meson>`_.
+For cross compilation instructions, see :doc:`scipy:building/cross_compilation`
+and the `Meson documentation <meson>`_.
 
 .. _meson: https://mesonbuild.com/Cross-compilation.html#cross-compilation