diff --git a/api-ref/source/conf.py b/api-ref/source/conf.py
index 5a1a98c83..c1716c0f1 100644
--- a/api-ref/source/conf.py
+++ b/api-ref/source/conf.py
@@ -162,8 +162,7 @@ html_context = {'bug_tag': 'api-ref',
 git_cmd = ["git", "log", "--pretty=format:'%ad, commit %h'", "--date=local",
            "-n1"]
 try:
-    html_last_updated_fmt = subprocess.Popen(
-        git_cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0].decode()
+    html_last_updated_fmt = subprocess.check_output(git_cmd).decode('utf-8')
 except Exception:
     warnings.warn('Cannot get last updated time from git repository. '
                   'Not setting "html_last_updated_fmt".')