diff --git a/desktop/meson.build b/desktop/meson.build
index bee2e93c48..a493d35f2f 100644
--- a/desktop/meson.build
+++ b/desktop/meson.build
@@ -45,13 +45,11 @@ if desktop_validate.found()
 endif
 
 if appstreamcli.found()
-   # TODO: should we use validate-strict when the last errors for a strict
-   # validation are fixed?
   test('appdata_file',
-    appstreamcli,
-    args: [ 'validate', appdatafile ],
+    find_program('test-appdata.sh', required: true, dirs: [meson.current_source_dir()]),
     env: [
-      'GIMP_TESTING_ABS_TOP_BUILDDIR=' + meson.project_build_root(),
+      'GIMP_TESTING_BUILDDIR=' + meson.current_build_dir(),
+      'GIMP_RELEASE=' + (release ? '1' : '0'),
     ],
     suite: 'desktop',
   )
diff --git a/desktop/test-appdata.sh b/desktop/test-appdata.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..6a77a10f92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/desktop/test-appdata.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+cd $GIMP_TESTING_BUILDDIR
+if [ $GIMP_RELEASE -eq 1 ]; then
+  appstreamcli validate org.gimp.GIMP.appdata.xml
+  exit $?
+else
+  APPDATA=`mktemp org.gimp.GIMP.appdata.XXX.xml`
+  sed "s/date=\"TODO\"/date=\"`date --iso-8601`\"/" org.gimp.GIMP.appdata.xml > $APPDATA
+  appstreamcli validate $APPDATA
+  success=$?
+  rm $APPDATA
+  exit $success
+fi