diff --git a/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml
index bf8e3df86..092c3952b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: install dependencies
       run: sudo apt-get install pkg-config gcc ragel gcovr gtk-doc-tools libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev libicu-dev libgraphite2-dev python3 python3-setuptools ninja-build gobject-introspection libgirepository1.0-dev
     - name: install meson and fonttools
-      run: sudo pip3 install meson fonttools
+      run: sudo pip3 install meson==0.53.0 fonttools
     - name: run
       run: meson build -Db_coverage=true -Dglib=enabled -Dcairo=enabled -Dicu=enabled -Dgraphite=enabled -Dfreetype=enabled -Doptimization=2
     - name: ci