diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index fca0c1f5c2..d538d037eb 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # so force it explicitly
 DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --enable-werror
 
-SUBDIRS = . docs
+SUBDIRS = .
 
 XZ_OPT ?= -v -T0
 export XZ_OPT
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2a586f12fe..ff0391bf24 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ m4_if(m4_version_compare([2.61a.100],
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([run],
                 [chmod +x,-w run])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([\
-        Makefile docs/Makefile \
+        Makefile \
         .color_coded \
         .ycm_extra_conf.py \
         libvirt.pc \
diff --git a/docs/Makefile.am b/docs/Makefile.am
deleted file mode 100644
index 40b4d224d7..0000000000
--- a/docs/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in
-
-## Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Red Hat, Inc.
-##
-## This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
-## modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
-## License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
-## version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
-##
-## This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-## but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
-## Lesser General Public License for more details.
-##
-## You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
-## License along with this library.  If not, see
-## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-check-html:
-	$(XMLLINT) --nonet --noout html/*.html
-
-check-local: check-html
diff --git a/docs/html/meson.build b/docs/html/meson.build
index 7be5abe5fe..c87cc9f7ea 100644
--- a/docs/html/meson.build
+++ b/docs/html/meson.build
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ apipng = [
 
 install_data(apipng, install_dir: docs_html_dir / 'html')
 
-custom_target(
+docs_html_gen = []
+docs_html_dep = []
+
+index_api_gen = custom_target(
   'index-api',
   input: [
     newapi_xsl,
@@ -43,8 +46,11 @@ custom_target(
   ],
 )
 
+docs_html_gen += index_api_gen.to_list()
+docs_html_dep += index_api_gen
+
 foreach name : [ 'admin', 'lxc', 'qemu' ]
-  custom_target(
+  index_api_gen = custom_target(
     'index-@0@-api'.format(name),
     input: [
       newapi_xsl,
@@ -67,4 +73,22 @@ foreach name : [ 'admin', 'lxc', 'qemu' ]
       page_xsl,
     ],
   )
+
+  docs_html_gen += index_api_gen.to_list()
+  docs_html_dep += index_api_gen
 endforeach
+
+docs_html_paths = []
+
+foreach file : docs_html_gen
+  docs_html_paths += file.full_path()
+endforeach
+
+test(
+  'check-html',
+  xmllint_prog,
+  args: [
+    '--nonet', '--noout', docs_html_paths,
+  ],
+  depends: docs_html_dep,
+)