diff --git a/buildtools/call-sphinx-build.py b/buildtools/call-sphinx-build.py
index 26b199220a..39a60d09fa 100755
--- a/buildtools/call-sphinx-build.py
+++ b/buildtools/call-sphinx-build.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import os
 from os.path import join
 from subprocess import run, PIPE, STDOUT
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
+from packaging.version import Version
 
 # assign parameters to variables
 (sphinx, version, src, dst, *extra_args) = sys.argv[1:]
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 ver = run([sphinx, '--version'], stdout=PIPE,
           stderr=STDOUT).stdout.decode().split()[-1]
 sphinx_cmd = [sphinx] + extra_args
-if StrictVersion(ver) >= StrictVersion('1.7'):
+if Version(ver) >= Version('1.7'):
     sphinx_cmd += ['-j', 'auto']
 
 # find all the files sphinx will process so we can write them as dependencies
diff --git a/doc/guides/conf.py b/doc/guides/conf.py
index 1743ce301f..a55ce38800 100644
--- a/doc/guides/conf.py
+++ b/doc/guides/conf.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Copyright(c) 2010-2015 Intel Corporation
 
 from docutils import nodes
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from packaging.version import Version
 from sphinx import __version__ as sphinx_version
 from os import listdir
 from os import environ
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
 project = 'Data Plane Development Kit'
 html_logo = '../logo/DPDK_logo_vertical_rev_small.png'
-if LooseVersion(sphinx_version) >= LooseVersion('3.5'):
+if Version(sphinx_version) >= Version('3.5'):
     html_permalinks = False
 else:
     html_add_permalinks = ""
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ def setup(app):
                             'Features availability for Timer adapters',
                             'Feature')
 
-    if LooseVersion(sphinx_version) < LooseVersion('1.3.1'):
+    if Version(sphinx_version) < Version('1.3.1'):
         print('Upgrade sphinx to version >= 1.3.1 for '
               'improved Figure/Table number handling.',
               file=stderr)