diff --git a/docs/changes.rst b/docs/changes.rst
index 08f82e2e0..d8d9a3519 100644
--- a/docs/changes.rst
+++ b/docs/changes.rst
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ Other changes:
 
   - language clarification - "borg create --one-file-system" option does not respect
     mount points, but considers different file systems instead, #2141
+- setup.py: build_api: sort file list for determinism
 
 
 Version 1.1.0b3 (2017-01-15)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3864be5f7..d432bb164 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -584,10 +584,13 @@ class build_api(Command):
         print("auto-generating API documentation")
         with open("docs/api.rst", "w") as doc:
             doc.write("""
+.. IMPORTANT: this file is auto-generated by "setup.py build_api", do not edit!
+
+
 API Documentation
 =================
 """)
-            for mod in glob('src/borg/*.py') + glob('src/borg/*.pyx'):
+            for mod in sorted(glob('src/borg/*.py') + glob('src/borg/*.pyx')):
                 print("examining module %s" % mod)
                 mod = mod.replace('.pyx', '').replace('.py', '').replace('/', '.')
                 if "._" not in mod: