diff --git a/scripts/doc/append-xml-tags.py b/scripts/doc/append-xml-tags.py
index 8343fd989cb2ac14c441dc6091dabd7172fd2135..4d8ff5284dda4c4b1829063d6e4a1ef5945f4e53 100755
--- a/scripts/doc/append-xml-tags.py
+++ b/scripts/doc/append-xml-tags.py
@@ -10,22 +10,24 @@ from signal import signal, SIGPIPE, SIG_DFL
 signal(SIGPIPE,SIG_DFL)
 
 import os
+import sys
 import xml.etree.cElementTree as ET
-import argparse
 
 github_src_url  = "https://github.com/ufz/ogs/tree/master"
 github_data_url = "https://github.com/ufz/ogs-data/tree/master"
 
-parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Print XML tags")
+if len(sys.argv) != 4:
+    print("Usage:")
+    print("{} EXT DATADIR DOCAUXDIR".format(sys.argv[0]))
+    sys.exit(1)
 
-parser.add_argument("ext",       help="Extension of files to consider")
-parser.add_argument("datadir",   help="data directory")
-parser.add_argument("docauxdir", help="directory of auxiliary doc files")
+ext       = sys.argv[1]
+datadir   = sys.argv[2]
+docauxdir = sys.argv[3]
 
-args = parser.parse_args()
-extension = '.' + args.ext
-datadir   = os.path.abspath(args.datadir)
-docauxdir = os.path.abspath(args.docauxdir)
+extension = '.' + ext
+datadir   = os.path.abspath(datadir)
+docauxdir = os.path.abspath(docauxdir)
 docdir    = os.path.join(docauxdir, "dox", "ProjectFile")
 
 # used to expand documentation entry points to full xml tag paths
diff --git a/scripts/doc/get-project-params.sh b/scripts/doc/get-project-params.sh
index 09db7ccc7685ee283f17445dee04f6a52f8b88a9..0f2340b36e36d5d15b408302a42be1b1064b34e0 100755
--- a/scripts/doc/get-project-params.sh
+++ b/scripts/doc/get-project-params.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-srcdir="`realpath "$1"`"
+srcdir="$1"
 
 #color="--color=always"
 color=""