diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.changelog.in b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.changelog.in
index fb149a0a684..81d65ff8a07 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.changelog.in
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/requirements/sanity.changelog.in
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-rstcheck < 6  # match version used in other sanity tests
+rstcheck < 6  # newer versions have too many dependencies
 antsibull-changelog
-docutils
diff --git a/test/sanity/code-smell/deprecated-config.requirements.in b/test/sanity/code-smell/deprecated-config.requirements.in
index 859c4ee7e63..4e859bb8c71 100644
--- a/test/sanity/code-smell/deprecated-config.requirements.in
+++ b/test/sanity/code-smell/deprecated-config.requirements.in
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-jinja2  # ansible-core requirement
+jinja2
 pyyaml
diff --git a/test/sanity/code-smell/package-data.requirements.in b/test/sanity/code-smell/package-data.requirements.in
index deb50678890..61b1e3f8cd8 100644
--- a/test/sanity/code-smell/package-data.requirements.in
+++ b/test/sanity/code-smell/package-data.requirements.in
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 build
-docutils < 0.18  # match version required by sphinx in the docs-build sanity test
+docutils  # required for man page builds by the in-tree PEP 517 backend
 jinja2
-pyyaml  # ansible-core requirement
+pyyaml
 resolvelib < 1.1.0
-rstcheck < 6  # match version used in other sanity tests
+rstcheck < 6  # newer versions have too many dependencies
 antsibull-changelog
 setuptools == 45.2.0  # minimum supported setuptools