diff --git a/dist/bin/scaladoc b/dist/bin/scaladoc
index e92e21d6e49a..f09bf27812c0 100755
--- a/dist/bin/scaladoc
+++ b/dist/bin/scaladoc
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ eval "\"$JAVACMD\"" \
      ${JAVA_OPTS:-$default_java_opts} \
      "${java_args[@]}" \
      "${jvm_cp_args-}" \
+      -Dscala.usejavacp=true \
      "dotty.tools.scaladoc.Main"  \
      "${scala_args[@]}" \
      "${residual_args[@]}" \
diff --git a/project/Build.scala b/project/Build.scala
index 68df8ea326ad..52ff8f8979e5 100644
--- a/project/Build.scala
+++ b/project/Build.scala
@@ -1243,7 +1243,7 @@ object Build {
       libraryDependencies += ("org.scala-js" %%% "scalajs-dom" % "1.1.0").cross(CrossVersion.for3Use2_13)
     )
 
-  def generateDocumentation(targets: Seq[String], name: String, outDir: String, ref: String, params: Seq[String] = Nil) =
+  def generateDocumentation(targets: Seq[String], name: String, outDir: String, ref: String, params: Seq[String] = Nil, usingScript: Boolean = true) =
     Def.taskDyn {
       val distLocation = (dist / pack).value
       val projectVersion = version.value
@@ -1267,7 +1267,20 @@ object Build {
         s"-source-links:github://lampepfl/dotty/$referenceVersion",
       ) ++ scalacOptionsDocSettings ++ revision ++ params ++ targets
       import _root_.scala.sys.process._
-      Def.task((s"$distLocation/bin/scaladoc" +: cmd).!)
+      if (usingScript)
+        Def.task((s"$distLocation/bin/scaladoc" +: cmd).!)
+      else {
+        val escapedCmd = cmd.map(arg => if(arg.contains(" ")) s""""$arg"""" else arg)
+        Def.task {
+          try {
+            (Compile / run).toTask(escapedCmd.mkString(" ", " ", "")).value
+            0
+          } catch {
+            case _ : Throwable => 1
+          }
+        }
+      }
+
     }
 
   val SourceLinksIntegrationTest = config("sourceLinksIntegrationTest") extend Test
@@ -1314,8 +1327,7 @@ object Build {
       generateSelfDocumentation := Def.taskDyn {
         generateDocumentation(
           (Compile / classDirectory).value.getAbsolutePath :: Nil,
-          "scaladoc", "scaladoc/output/self", VersionUtil.gitHash,
-          Seq("-usejavacp")
+          "scaladoc", "scaladoc/output/self", VersionUtil.gitHash
         )
       }.value,
       generateScalaDocumentation := Def.inputTaskDyn {
@@ -1356,7 +1368,7 @@ object Build {
             s"-source-links:docs=github://lampepfl/dotty/master#docs",
             "-doc-root-content", docRootFile.toString,
             "-Ydocument-synthetic-types"
-          )
+          ), usingScript = false
         ))
       }.evaluated,
 
@@ -1365,8 +1377,7 @@ object Build {
           (Test / Build.testcasesOutputDir).value,
           "scaladoc testcases",
           "scaladoc/output/testcases",
-          "master",
-          Seq("-usejavacp")
+          "master"
         )
       }.value,