diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index f0aa36a82..f188fbe71 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ executors:
   win32-executor:
     docker:
       - image: cimg/base:edge-20.04
+  autotools-executor:
+    docker:
+      - image: cimg/base:edge-20.04
 
 jobs:
 
@@ -53,11 +56,10 @@ jobs:
 
   # will be dropped with autotools removal
   distcheck:
-    docker:
-      - image: ubuntu:20.04
+    executor: autotools-executor
     steps:
       - checkout
-      - run: apt update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt install -y git ninja-build binutils libtool autoconf automake make gcc g++ pkg-config ragel gtk-doc-tools libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev libicu-dev libgraphite2-dev python3 python3-pip cmake
+      - run: sudo apt update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive sudo apt install -y git ninja-build binutils libtool autoconf automake make gcc g++ pkg-config ragel gtk-doc-tools libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev libicu-dev libgraphite2-dev python3 python3-pip cmake
       - run: pip3 install fonttools meson --upgrade
       - run: ./autogen.sh
       - run: make -j32