diff --git a/release-process.md b/release-process.md
index b2ee62ba98d..de04539fdeb 100644
--- a/release-process.md
+++ b/release-process.md
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ Instead much of the same release logic can be accessed in `dev/create-release/re
 - R, for CRAN packaging tests, requires e1071 to be installed as part of the packaging tests.
 - In addition R uses LaTeX for some things, and requires some additional fonts. On Debian based systems you may wish to install `texlive-fonts-recommended` and `texlive-fonts-extra`.
 - Make sure you required Python packages for packaging (see `dev/requirements.txt`)
+- Ensure you have Python 3 having Sphinx installed, and `SPHINXPYTHON` environment variable is set to indicate your Python 3 executable (see SPARK-24530).
 - Tag the release candidate with `dev/create-release/release-tag.sh` (e.g. for creating 2.1.2 RC2 we did `ASF_USERNAME=holden ASF_PASSWORD=yoursecretgoeshere GIT_NAME="Holden Karau" GIT_BRANCH=branch-2.1 GIT_EMAIL="holden@us.ibm.com" RELEASE_VERSION=2.1.2 RELEASE_TAG=v2.1.2-rc2 NEXT_VERSION=2.1.3-SNAPSHOT ./dev/create-release/release-tag.sh`)
 - Package the release binaries & sources with `dev/create-release/release-build.sh package`
 - Create the release docs with `dev/create-release/release-build.sh docs`
diff --git a/site/release-process.html b/site/release-process.html
index b69d1ef3ed1..b803a5d3a81 100644
--- a/site/release-process.html
+++ b/site/release-process.html
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ <h3>Cutting a Release Candidate</h3>
   <li>R, for CRAN packaging tests, requires e1071 to be installed as part of the packaging tests.</li>
   <li>In addition R uses LaTeX for some things, and requires some additional fonts. On Debian based systems you may wish to install <code>texlive-fonts-recommended</code> and <code>texlive-fonts-extra</code>.</li>
   <li>Make sure you required Python packages for packaging (see <code>dev/requirements.txt</code>)</li>
+  <li>Ensure you have Python 3 having Sphinx installed, and <code>SPHINXPYTHON</code> environment variable is set to indicate your Python 3 executable (see SPARK-24530).</li>
   <li>Tag the release candidate with <code>dev/create-release/release-tag.sh</code> (e.g. for creating 2.1.2 RC2 we did <code>ASF_USERNAME=holden ASF_PASSWORD=yoursecretgoeshere GIT_NAME="Holden Karau" GIT_BRANCH=branch-2.1 GIT_EMAIL="holden@us.ibm.com" RELEASE_VERSION=2.1.2 RELEASE_TAG=v2.1.2-rc2 NEXT_VERSION=2.1.3-SNAPSHOT ./dev/create-release/release-tag.sh</code>)</li>
   <li>Package the release binaries &amp; sources with <code>dev/create-release/release-build.sh package</code></li>
   <li>Create the release docs with <code>dev/create-release/release-build.sh docs</code></li>