diff --git a/contrib/ci/ubuntu.sh b/contrib/ci/ubuntu.sh
index 0b0c4b7f8..8be1673ff 100755
--- a/contrib/ci/ubuntu.sh
+++ b/contrib/ci/ubuntu.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ eval "$(dpkg-buildflags --export=sh)"
 export LDFLAGS=$(dpkg-buildflags --get LDFLAGS | sed "s/-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions\s//")
 
 rm -rf build
-meson build --werror -Dman=false
+meson build --werror -Dman=false -Dgtkdoc=true
 #build with clang and -Werror
 ninja -C build test -v
 
diff --git a/contrib/debian/rules b/contrib/debian/rules
index 56091c24a..25428e401 100755
--- a/contrib/debian/rules
+++ b/contrib/debian/rules
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ override_dh_auto_configure:
 	else \
 		export FLASHROM="-Dplugin_flashrom=false"; \
 	fi; \
-	dh_auto_configure -- $$UEFI $$DELL $$FLASHROM $$CI -Dplugin_dummy=true --libexecdir=/usr/lib
+	dh_auto_configure -- $$UEFI $$DELL $$FLASHROM $$CI -Dplugin_dummy=true -Dgtkdoc=true --libexecdir=/usr/lib
 
 override_dh_install:
 	find debian/tmp/usr -type f -name "*a" -print | xargs rm -f
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index b72799fbd..e94e16c1e 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ option('agent', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable the fwupd
 option('consolekit', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable ConsoleKit support')
 option('firmware-packager', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable firmware-packager installation')
 option('gpg', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable the GPG verification support')
-option('gtkdoc', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable developer documentation')
+option('gtkdoc', type : 'boolean', value : false, description : 'enable developer documentation')
 option('introspection', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'generate GObject Introspection data')
 option('lvfs', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable LVFS remotes')
 option('man', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'enable man pages')