diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/run-test.sh b/.gitlab-ci/run-test.sh
index 01f3b8bd10..e96f57e603 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/run-test.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/run-test.sh
@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@ fi
 if check_run_clean tarball+meson; then
     BUILD_TYPE=meson CC=gcc WITH_DOCS=1 CONFIGURE_ONLY=1 contrib/scripts/nm-ci-run.sh
     pushd ./build
-        # dist with meson
-        meson dist
+        # dist with meson/ninja
+        ninja dist
 
         # build with autotools
         DISTSRC="./distsrc-$RANDOM"
diff --git a/tools/meson-dist-data.sh b/tools/meson-dist-data.sh
index 1b5d3b03f2..da1e5e66df 100755
--- a/tools/meson-dist-data.sh
+++ b/tools/meson-dist-data.sh
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ ensure_var_path() {
   fi
 }
 
-copy_from_build() {
-    cp -Tr "$MESON_BUILD_ROOT/$1" "$MESON_DIST_ROOT/$1"
-}
-
 if [ "$MESON_BUILD_ROOT" = "" ]; then
     if [ "$1" = "--build-root" ]; then
         MESON_BUILD_ROOT="$2"
@@ -25,11 +21,9 @@ fi
 
 ensure_var_path "MESON_DIST_ROOT"
 ensure_var_path "MESON_BUILD_ROOT"
-ensure_var_path "MESON_SOURCE_ROOT"
 
 ninja -C "$MESON_BUILD_ROOT" all libnm-doc NetworkManager-doc
 
-mkdir -p "$MESON_DIST_ROOT/docs/"
-copy_from_build /docs/api/
-copy_from_build /docs/libnm/
-copy_from_build /man/
+cp -Tr "$MESON_BUILD_ROOT/docs/api/html" "$MESON_DIST_ROOT/docs/api/html"
+cp -Tr "$MESON_BUILD_ROOT/docs/libnm/html" "$MESON_DIST_ROOT/docs/libnm/html"
+cp "$MESON_BUILD_ROOT/man/"*.[1-8] "$MESON_DIST_ROOT/man"