diff --git a/doc/src/Build_extras.rst b/doc/src/Build_extras.rst
index 8b11ede347..34a75b66dc 100644
--- a/doc/src/Build_extras.rst
+++ b/doc/src/Build_extras.rst
@@ -738,12 +738,12 @@ be installed on your system.
 MLIAP package
 ---------------------------
 
-Building the MLIAP package requires also enabling the SNAP package.
-There will be an error message if this requirement is not satisfied.
-Using the *mliappy* model also requires enabling the PYTHON package
-**and** requires you have the `cython <https://ctyhon.org>`_ software
-installed and a working ``cythonize`` command.  This requires Python
-version 3.6 or later.
+Building the MLIAP package requires including the :ref:`SNAP <PKG-SNAP>`
+package.  There will be an error message if this requirement is not satisfied.
+Using the *mliappy* model also requires enabling the :ref:`PYTHON <PKG-PYTHON>`
+package **and** requires you have the `cython <https://ctyhon.org>`_ software
+installed and with it a working ``cythonize`` command.  This feature requires
+compiling LAMMPS with Python version 3.6 or later.
 
 .. tabs::
 
@@ -755,7 +755,11 @@ version 3.6 or later.
 
       Without this setting, CMake will check whether it can find a
       suitable Python version and the ``cythonize`` command and choose
-      the default accordingly.
+      the default accordingly.  During the build procedure the provided
+      .pyx file(s) will be automatically translated to C++ code and compiled.
+      Please do **not** run ``cythonize`` manually in the ``src/MLIAP`` folder,
+      as that can lead to compilation errors if PYTHON support is not included.
+      If you did by accident, please remove the generated .cpp and .h files.
 
    .. tab:: Traditional make
 
@@ -764,6 +768,14 @@ version 3.6 or later.
       the ``cythonize`` command in case the corresponding .pyx file was
       modified.  You may need to need to modify ``lib/python/Makefile.lammps``
       if the LAMMPS build fails.
+      To manually enforce building MLIAP with Python support, you can add
+      ``-DMLIAP_PYTHON`` to the ``LMP_INC`` variable in your machine makefile.
+      You may have to manually run the cythonize command on .pyx file(s)
+      in the ``src`` folder, if this is not automatically done during
+      installing the MLIAP package.  Please do **not** run ``cythonize``
+      in the ``src/MLIAP`` folder, as that can lead to compilation errors
+      if PYTHON support is not included.
+      If you did by accident, please remove the generated .cpp and .h files.
 
 ----------
 
diff --git a/doc/src/Packages_details.rst b/doc/src/Packages_details.rst
index 3fb906addf..e044adfcb3 100644
--- a/doc/src/Packages_details.rst
+++ b/doc/src/Packages_details.rst
@@ -668,8 +668,9 @@ A general interface for machine-learning interatomic potentials, including PyTor
 
 To use this package, also the :ref:`SNAP package <PKG-SNAP>` package needs
 to be installed.  To make the *mliappy* model available, also the
-:ref:`PYTHON package <PKG-PYTHON>` package needs to be installed and the version of
-python must be 3.5 or later.
+:ref:`PYTHON package <PKG-PYTHON>` package needs to be installed, the version of
+Python must be 3.6 or later, and the `cython <https://cython.org/>`_ software
+must be installed.
 
 **Author:** Aidan Thompson (Sandia), Nicholas Lubbers (LANL).
 
@@ -682,9 +683,10 @@ python must be 3.5 or later.
 * examples/mliap (see README)
 
 When built with the *mliappy* model this package includes an extension for
-coupling with python models, including PyTorch.
-In this case, the python interpreter linked to LAMMPS will need cython and numpy installed.
-The examples build models with PyTorch, which would thus need to be installed.
+coupling with Python models, including PyTorch. In this case, the Python
+interpreter linked to LAMMPS will need the ``cython`` and ``numpy`` modules
+installed.  The provided examples build models with PyTorch, which would
+therefore also needs to be installed to run those examples.
 
 ----------