--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -301,18 +301,7 @@ vapigen = find_program('vapigen', requir
 found_jdbc = false
 
 
-dates = compiler.run('''
-#include<glib.h>
-#include <glib/gprintf.h>
-
-void main (void) {
-  GDateTime *dt;
-  dt = g_date_time_new_now_local ();
-  g_print (g_date_time_format(dt, "%F"));
-}
-''',
-dependencies: glib_dep
-)
+dates = run_command('sh', '-c', 'printf %s "$(date +%F)"', check: true)
 
 subdir('po')
 subdir('libgda')