diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c4202c5d8..8a4fd3fbf 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -525,7 +525,14 @@ freebsd-13-x86_64:
   before_script:
     - bash .gitlab-ci/show-execution-environment.sh
   script:
-    - meson setup ${MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS} --localstatedir=/var -Db_lundef=false -Dxattr=false _build
+    # FIXME: We can’t use ${MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS} here because the FreeBSD 13
+    # runner has Meson 1.3 installed. This has an API hole where previous
+    # methods of getting paths from files() objects are rejected as deprecated,
+    # but no replacements are available. Hence, we can’t build with
+    # --fatal-meson-warnings. This should be fixed in Meson 1.4. It’s also fine
+    # with Meson 1.2.3 (which is what we use on all the other CI runners).
+    # See https://github.com/GNOME/glib/commit/71061fdcb33b8c26f5f8467cb3ac10704d65c87d
+    - meson setup --buildtype debug --wrap-mode=nodownload --localstatedir=/var -Db_lundef=false -Dxattr=false _build
     - meson compile -C _build
     - bash -x ./.gitlab-ci/run-tests.sh
   artifacts: