building docs skips numpy,scipy,pandas,dill,h5py imports

docs/conf.py

@@ -23,6 +23,34 @@
 #sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath(".."))
 
+
+# Provide stubs for external dependencies, so we can generate our reference
+# documentation without having to install them.
+class module_proxy(object):
+    __all__ = []
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return module_proxy()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def __getattr__(cls, name):
+        if name in ("__file__", "__path__"):
+            return "/dev/null"
+        elif name[0] == name[0].upper():
+            proxy_type = type(name, (), {})
+            proxy_type.__module__ = __name__
+            return proxy_type
+        else:
+            return module_proxy()
+
+MODULES = ["numpy", "scipy", "pandas", "dill", "h5py"]
+for module_name in MODULES:
+    sys.modules[module_name] = module_proxy()
+
+
 # If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
 # add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
 # documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.