diff --git a/numpydoc/numpydoc.py b/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
index 5b8faa94..58679da5 100644
--- a/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
+++ b/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 """
 from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
 
+from copy import deepcopy
 import sys
 import re
 import pydoc
@@ -160,7 +161,7 @@ def mangle_docstrings(app, what, name, obj, options, lines):
            'attributes_as_param_list':
            app.config.numpydoc_attributes_as_param_list,
            'xref_param_type': app.config.numpydoc_xref_param_type,
-           'xref_aliases': app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases,
+           'xref_aliases': app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete,
            'xref_ignore': app.config.numpydoc_xref_ignore,
            }
 
@@ -258,9 +259,15 @@ def setup(app, get_doc_object_=get_doc_object):
 
 def update_config(app):
     """Update the configuration with default values."""
+    # Do not simply overwrite the `app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases`
+    # otherwise the next sphinx-build will compare the incoming values (without
+    # our additions) to the old values (with our additions) and trigger
+    # a full rebuild!
+    numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete = deepcopy(app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases)
     for key, value in DEFAULT_LINKS.items():
-        if key not in app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases:
-            app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases[key] = value
+        if key not in numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete:
+            numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete[key] = value
+    app.config.numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete = numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete
 
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py b/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
index c2381f8b..83659c0e 100644
--- a/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
+++ b/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
 
 from collections import namedtuple
+from copy import deepcopy
 import re
 import sys
 import textwrap
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@
 import jinja2
 
 from numpydoc.numpydoc import update_config
+from numpydoc.xref import DEFAULT_LINKS
 from numpydoc.docscrape import (
     NumpyDocString,
     FunctionDoc,
@@ -1485,8 +1487,16 @@ def test_xref():
     xref_aliases = {
         'sequence': ':obj:`python:sequence`',
     }
-    config = namedtuple('numpydoc_xref_aliases',
-                        'numpydoc_xref_aliases')(xref_aliases)
+
+    class Config():
+        def __init__(self, a, b):
+            self.numpydoc_xref_aliases = a
+            self.numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete = b
+
+    xref_aliases_complete = deepcopy(DEFAULT_LINKS)
+    for key in xref_aliases:
+        xref_aliases_complete[key] = xref_aliases[key]
+    config = Config(xref_aliases, xref_aliases_complete)
     app = namedtuple('config', 'config')(config)
     update_config(app)
 
@@ -1496,7 +1506,7 @@ def test_xref():
         xref_doc_txt,
         config=dict(
             xref_param_type=True,
-            xref_aliases=xref_aliases,
+            xref_aliases=xref_aliases_complete,
             xref_ignore=xref_ignore
         )
     )
diff --git a/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py b/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py
index 635a271d..146e44c6 100644
--- a/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py
+++ b/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 # -*- encoding:utf-8 -*-
 from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
 
+from copy import deepcopy
 from numpydoc.numpydoc import mangle_docstrings
+from numpydoc.xref import DEFAULT_LINKS
 from sphinx.ext.autodoc import ALL
 
+
 class MockConfig():
     numpydoc_use_plots = False
     numpydoc_use_blockquotes = True
@@ -12,15 +15,18 @@ class MockConfig():
     numpydoc_class_members_toctree = True
     numpydoc_xref_param_type = False
     numpydoc_xref_aliases = {}
+    numpydoc_xref_aliases_complete = deepcopy(DEFAULT_LINKS)
     numpydoc_xref_ignore = set()
     templates_path = []
     numpydoc_edit_link = False
     numpydoc_citation_re = '[a-z0-9_.-]+'
     numpydoc_attributes_as_param_list = True
 
+
 class MockBuilder():
     config = MockConfig()
 
+
 class MockApp():
     config = MockConfig()
     builder = MockBuilder()
@@ -30,6 +36,7 @@ class MockApp():
 app = MockApp()
 app.builder.app = app
 
+
 def test_mangle_docstrings():
     s ='''
 A top section before
@@ -56,5 +63,6 @@ def test_mangle_docstrings():
     assert 'rpartition' in [x.strip() for x in lines]
     assert 'upper' not in [x.strip() for x in lines]
 
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import pytest