diff --git a/man/custom-entities.ent.in b/man/custom-entities.ent.in
index 8e494c7371..9c6a2d0558 100644
--- a/man/custom-entities.ent.in
+++ b/man/custom-entities.ent.in
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!ENTITY MOUNT_PATH @MOUNT_PATH@>
-<!ENTITY UMOUNT_PATH @UMOUNT_PATH@>
-<!ENTITY systemgeneratordir @SYSTEM_GENERATOR_DIR@>
-<!ENTITY usergeneratordir @USER_GENERATOR_DIR@>
-<!ENTITY systemenvgeneratordir @SYSTEM_ENV_GENERATOR_DIR@>
-<!ENTITY userenvgeneratordir @USER_ENV_GENERATOR_DIR@>
-<!ENTITY CERTIFICATE_ROOT @CERTIFICATE_ROOT@>
-<!ENTITY FALLBACK_HOSTNAME @FALLBACK_HOSTNAME@>
-<!ENTITY MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT @MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT_YES_NO@>
-<!ENTITY KILL_USER_PROCESSES @KILL_USER_PROCESSES_YES_NO@>
-<!ENTITY DEBUGTTY @DEBUGTTY@>
-<!ENTITY RC_LOCAL_PATH @RC_LOCAL_PATH@>
+<!ENTITY MOUNT_PATH "{{MOUNT_PATH}}">
+<!ENTITY UMOUNT_PATH "{{UMOUNT_PATH}}">
+<!ENTITY systemgeneratordir "{{SYSTEM_GENERATOR_DIR}}">
+<!ENTITY usergeneratordir "{{USER_GENERATOR_DIR}}">
+<!ENTITY systemenvgeneratordir "{{SYSTEM_ENV_GENERATOR_DIR}}">
+<!ENTITY userenvgeneratordir "{{USER_ENV_GENERATOR_DIR}}">
+<!ENTITY CERTIFICATE_ROOT "{{CERTIFICATE_ROOT}}">
+<!ENTITY FALLBACK_HOSTNAME "{{FALLBACK_HOSTNAME}}">
+<!ENTITY MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT "{{MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT_YES_NO}}">
+<!ENTITY KILL_USER_PROCESSES "{{KILL_USER_PROCESSES_YES_NO}}">
+<!ENTITY DEBUGTTY "{{DEBUGTTY}}">
+<!ENTITY RC_LOCAL_PATH "{{RC_LOCAL_PATH}}">
 <!ENTITY fedora_latest_version "34">
 <!ENTITY fedora_cloud_release "1.2">
diff --git a/man/meson.build b/man/meson.build
index b21631b873..ff36d26cb4 100644
--- a/man/meson.build
+++ b/man/meson.build
@@ -26,10 +26,12 @@ custom_man_xsl = files('custom-man.xsl')
 custom_html_xsl = files('custom-html.xsl')
 xslt_cmd = [xsltproc, '-o', '@OUTPUT0@'] + xsltproc_flags
 
-custom_entities_ent = configure_file(
+custom_entities_ent = custom_target(
+        'custom-entities.ent',
         input : 'custom-entities.ent.in',
         output : 'custom-entities.ent',
-        configuration : conf)
+        command : [meson_render_jinja2, config_h, '@INPUT@'],
+        capture : true)
 
 man_pages = []
 html_pages = []
@@ -60,7 +62,7 @@ foreach tuple : xsltproc.found() ? manpages : []
                         input : xml,
                         output : [man] + manaliases,
                         command : xslt_cmd + [custom_man_xsl, '@INPUT@'],
-                        depend_files : custom_entities_ent,
+                        depends : custom_entities_ent,
                         install : want_man,
                         install_dir : mandirn)
                 man_pages += p1
@@ -85,8 +87,7 @@ foreach tuple : xsltproc.found() ? manpages : []
                         input : xml,
                         output : html,
                         command : xslt_cmd + [custom_html_xsl, '@INPUT@'],
-                        depend_files : custom_entities_ent,
-                        depends : p2,
+                        depends : [custom_entities_ent, p2],
                         install : want_html,
                         install_dir : join_paths(docdir, 'html'))
                 html_pages += p3
@@ -163,8 +164,7 @@ foreach tuple : xsltproc.found() ? [['systemd.directives', '7', systemd_directiv
                 input : xml,
                 output : html,
                 command : xslt_cmd + [custom_html_xsl, '@INPUT@'],
-                depend_files : custom_entities_ent,
-                depends : p2,
+                depends : [custom_entities_ent, p2],
                 install : want_html and have_lxml,
                 install_dir : join_paths(docdir, 'html'))
         html_pages += p3
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index d4bd47ea2d..41129b92c4 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3655,7 +3655,7 @@ custom_target(
                    'cd @0@ && '.format(meson.build_root()) +
                    'python3 @0@/tools/update-man-rules.py $(find @0@ -wholename "*/man/*.xml") >t && '.format(project_source_root) +
                    'mv t @0@/man/rules/meson.build'.format(meson.current_source_dir())],
-        depend_files : custom_entities_ent)
+        depends : custom_entities_ent)
 
 ############################################################
 watchdog_opt = service_watchdog == '' ? 'disabled' : service_watchdog