diff --git a/src/librustdoc/html/markdown.rs b/src/librustdoc/html/markdown.rs
index 1c27320024a9f..fd00277e2137d 100644
--- a/src/librustdoc/html/markdown.rs
+++ b/src/librustdoc/html/markdown.rs
@@ -1525,7 +1525,6 @@ fn init_id_map() -> FxHashMap<Cow<'static, str>, usize> {
     map.insert("toggle-all-docs".into(), 1);
     map.insert("all-types".into(), 1);
     map.insert("default-settings".into(), 1);
-    map.insert("rustdoc-vars".into(), 1);
     map.insert("sidebar-vars".into(), 1);
     map.insert("copy-path".into(), 1);
     map.insert("TOC".into(), 1);
diff --git a/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/source-script.js b/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/source-script.js
index d999f3b36fd82..6eb991360404a 100644
--- a/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/source-script.js
+++ b/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/source-script.js
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@
 
 // Local js definitions:
 /* global addClass, getCurrentValue, onEachLazy, removeClass, browserSupportsHistoryApi */
-/* global updateLocalStorage */
+/* global updateLocalStorage, getVar */
 
 "use strict";
 
 (function() {
 
-const rootPath = document.getElementById("rustdoc-vars").attributes["data-root-path"].value;
+const rootPath = getVar("root-path");
 
 const NAME_OFFSET = 0;
 const DIRS_OFFSET = 1;
diff --git a/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/storage.js b/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/storage.js
index 93979a944183b..71961f6f2a9c3 100644
--- a/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/storage.js
+++ b/src/librustdoc/html/static/js/storage.js
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ function getCurrentValue(name) {
 // Get a value from the rustdoc-vars div, which is used to convey data from
 // Rust to the JS. If there is no such element, return null.
 const getVar = (function getVar(name) {
-    const el = document.getElementById("rustdoc-vars");
+    const el = document.querySelector("head > meta[name='rustdoc-vars']");
     return el ? el.attributes["data-" + name].value : null;
 });
 
diff --git a/src/librustdoc/html/templates/page.html b/src/librustdoc/html/templates/page.html
index 759c4fd601226..d4ec9c34b6ffa 100644
--- a/src/librustdoc/html/templates/page.html
+++ b/src/librustdoc/html/templates/page.html
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
       {% endfor %}
     ></script> {# #}
     {% endif %}
-    <div id="rustdoc-vars" {#+ #}
+    <meta name="rustdoc-vars" {#+ #}
          data-root-path="{{page.root_path|safe}}" {#+ #}
          data-static-root-path="{{static_root_path|safe}}" {#+ #}
          data-current-crate="{{layout.krate}}" {#+ #}
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
          data-theme-dark-css="{{files.theme_dark_css}}" {#+ #}
          data-theme-ayu-css="{{files.theme_ayu_css}}" {#+ #}
     > {# #}
-    </div> {# #}
     <script src="{{static_root_path|safe}}{{files.storage_js}}"></script> {# #}
     {% if page.css_class.contains("crate") %}
     <script defer src="{{page.root_path|safe}}crates{{page.resource_suffix}}.js"></script> {# #}
diff --git a/tests/run-make/rustdoc-themes/foo.rs b/tests/run-make/rustdoc-themes/foo.rs
index 995544aeff998..8b1e75b0ae13b 100644
--- a/tests/run-make/rustdoc-themes/foo.rs
+++ b/tests/run-make/rustdoc-themes/foo.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 // @has test.css
 // @has foo/struct.Foo.html
-// @has - '//*[@id="rustdoc-vars"]/@data-themes' 'test'
+// @has - '//*[@name="rustdoc-vars"]/@data-themes' 'test'
 pub struct Foo;