diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 109f8bf6..285e4a9d 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ repos:
     hooks:
     -   id: check-yaml
 -   repo: https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff-pre-commit
-    rev: v0.8.6
+    rev: v0.9.1
     hooks:
       - id: ruff
         args: [ --fix ]
diff --git a/.readthedocs.yaml b/.readthedocs.yaml
index 516834fe..0697e236 100644
--- a/.readthedocs.yaml
+++ b/.readthedocs.yaml
@@ -9,3 +9,6 @@ python:
   install:
     - method: pip
       path: .
+
+sphinx:
+  configuration: doc/conf.py
diff --git a/doc/example/sysinfo.py b/doc/example/sysinfo.py
index b3fa2d5e..927b57c0 100644
--- a/doc/example/sysinfo.py
+++ b/doc/example/sysinfo.py
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@
     action="store",
     dest="ssh_config",
     default=None,
-    help="use given ssh config file,"
-    " and add info all contained hosts for getting info",
+    help="use given ssh config file, and add info all contained hosts for getting info",
 )
 parser.add_option(
     "-i",
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@
     action="store",
     dest="ignores",
     default=None,
-    help="ignore hosts " "(useful if the list of hostnames come from a file list)",
+    help="ignore hosts (useful if the list of hostnames come from a file list)",
 )
 
 
diff --git a/src/execnet/gateway_base.py b/src/execnet/gateway_base.py
index 22756778..60fa783c 100644
--- a/src/execnet/gateway_base.py
+++ b/src/execnet/gateway_base.py
@@ -1237,7 +1237,7 @@ def _terminate_execution(self) -> None:
         self._trace("shutting down execution pool")
         self._execpool.trigger_shutdown()
         if not self._execpool.waitall(5.0):
-            self._trace("execution ongoing after 5 secs," " trying interrupt_main")
+            self._trace("execution ongoing after 5 secs, trying interrupt_main")
             # We try hard to terminate execution based on the assumption
             # that there is only one gateway object running per-process.
             if sys.platform != "win32":
@@ -1248,7 +1248,7 @@ def _terminate_execution(self) -> None:
                 interrupt_main()
             if not self._execpool.waitall(10.0):
                 self._trace(
-                    "execution did not finish in another 10 secs, " "calling os._exit()"
+                    "execution did not finish in another 10 secs, calling os._exit()"
                 )
                 os._exit(1)
 
diff --git a/src/execnet/multi.py b/src/execnet/multi.py
index 90742f26..c4f35813 100644
--- a/src/execnet/multi.py
+++ b/src/execnet/multi.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def set_execmodel(
         """
         if self._gateways:
             raise ValueError(
-                "can not set execution models if " "gateways have been created already"
+                "can not set execution models if gateways have been created already"
             )
         if remote_execmodel is None:
             remote_execmodel = execmodel
diff --git a/src/execnet/rsync.py b/src/execnet/rsync.py
index 84820532..2b5698d8 100644
--- a/src/execnet/rsync.py
+++ b/src/execnet/rsync.py
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ def send(self, raises: bool = True) -> None:
         if not self._channels:
             if raises:
                 raise OSError(
-                    "no targets available, maybe you " "are trying call send() twice?"
+                    "no targets available, maybe you are trying call send() twice?"
                 )
             return
         # normalize a trailing '/' away
diff --git a/testing/conftest.py b/testing/conftest.py
index a7c2eede..d9667ac1 100644
--- a/testing/conftest.py
+++ b/testing/conftest.py
@@ -162,8 +162,7 @@ def gw(
                 proxygw = group.makegateway("popen//id=%s" % pname)
             # assert group['proxygw'].remote_status().receiving
             gw = group.makegateway(
-                f"socket//id=socket//installvia={pname}"
-                f"//execmodel={execmodel.backend}"
+                f"socket//id=socket//installvia={pname}//execmodel={execmodel.backend}"
             )
             # TODO(typing): Clarify this assignment.
             gw.proxygw = proxygw  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
@@ -176,8 +175,7 @@ def gw(
         elif request.param == "proxy":
             group.makegateway("popen//id=proxy-transport")
             gw = group.makegateway(
-                "popen//via=proxy-transport//id=proxy"
-                "//execmodel=%s" % execmodel.backend
+                "popen//via=proxy-transport//id=proxy//execmodel=%s" % execmodel.backend
             )
         else:
             assert 0, f"unknown execmodel: {request.param}"
diff --git a/testing/test_gateway.py b/testing/test_gateway.py
index 257fd941..8df5f21e 100644
--- a/testing/test_gateway.py
+++ b/testing/test_gateway.py
@@ -509,9 +509,9 @@ def test_popen_stderr_tracing(
         gw.exit()
 
     def test_no_tracing_by_default(self):
-        assert (
-            gateway_base.trace == gateway_base.notrace
-        ), "trace does not to default to empty tracing"
+        assert gateway_base.trace == gateway_base.notrace, (
+            "trace does not to default to empty tracing"
+        )
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
diff --git a/testing/test_xspec.py b/testing/test_xspec.py
index eaf30e1d..3e5041be 100644
--- a/testing/test_xspec.py
+++ b/testing/test_xspec.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def test_norm_attributes(self) -> None:
         assert spec.chdir is None
         assert spec.nice == "3"
 
-        spec = XSpec("ssh=user@host" "//chdir=/hello/this//python=/usr/bin/python2.5")
+        spec = XSpec("ssh=user@host//chdir=/hello/this//python=/usr/bin/python2.5")
         assert spec.ssh == "user@host"
         assert spec.python == "/usr/bin/python2.5"
         assert spec.chdir == "/hello/this"
@@ -56,8 +56,7 @@ def test_ssh_options(self) -> None:
         assert spec.python == "python3"
 
         spec = XSpec(
-            "ssh=-i ~/.ssh/id_rsa-passwordless_login -p 22100 user@host"
-            "//python=python3"
+            "ssh=-i ~/.ssh/id_rsa-passwordless_login -p 22100 user@host//python=python3"
         )
         assert spec.ssh == "-i ~/.ssh/id_rsa-passwordless_login -p 22100 user@host"
         assert spec.python == "python3"