diff --git a/meson/generate-manpages.py b/meson/generate-manpages.py
index ce2ca2828..e12df61b4 100644
--- a/meson/generate-manpages.py
+++ b/meson/generate-manpages.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 import os
 from pathlib import PurePath
-from asciidocapi import AsciiDocAPI
+import subprocess
 
 man_pages = [
     'man/gnome-shell.1',
@@ -12,13 +12,12 @@ man_pages = [
 sourceroot = os.environ.get('MESON_SOURCE_ROOT')
 distroot = os.environ.get('MESON_DIST_ROOT')
 
-asciidoc = AsciiDocAPI()
-
 for man_page in man_pages:
     page_path = PurePath(man_page)
     src = PurePath(sourceroot, page_path.with_suffix('.txt'))
     dst = PurePath(distroot, page_path)
     stylesheet = src.with_name('stylesheet.xsl')
 
-    asciidoc.options('--xsl-file', os.fspath(stylesheet))
-    asciidoc.execute(os.fspath(src), outfile=os.fspath(dst))
+    subprocess.call(['a2x', '--xsl-file', os.fspath(stylesheet),
+      '--format', 'manpage', '--destination-dir', os.fspath(dst.parent),
+      os.fspath(src)])