diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 00e1b750e2..e584f68393 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ texinfo_documents = [
 # We use paths starting from qemu_docdir here so that you can run
 # sphinx-build from anywhere and the kerneldoc extension can still
 # find everything.
-kerneldoc_bin = os.path.join(qemu_docdir, '../scripts/kernel-doc')
+kerneldoc_bin = ['perl', os.path.join(qemu_docdir, '../scripts/kernel-doc')]
 kerneldoc_srctree = os.path.join(qemu_docdir, '..')
 hxtool_srctree = os.path.join(qemu_docdir, '..')
 qapidoc_srctree = os.path.join(qemu_docdir, '..')
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/kerneldoc.py b/docs/sphinx/kerneldoc.py
index 3e87940206..3ac277d162 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/kerneldoc.py
+++ b/docs/sphinx/kerneldoc.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class KernelDocDirective(Directive):
 
     def run(self):
         env = self.state.document.settings.env
-        cmd = [env.config.kerneldoc_bin, '-rst', '-enable-lineno']
+        cmd = env.config.kerneldoc_bin + ['-rst', '-enable-lineno']
 
         filename = env.config.kerneldoc_srctree + '/' + self.arguments[0]
         export_file_patterns = []