diff --git a/lib/rdoc/generator/darkfish.rb b/lib/rdoc/generator/darkfish.rb
index a07f74e716..ad66b9a334 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/generator/darkfish.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/generator/darkfish.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 require 'erb'
 require 'fileutils'
 require 'pathname'
-require 'rdoc/generator/markup'
+require_relative 'markup'
 
 ##
 # Darkfish RDoc HTML Generator
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/generator/pot.rb b/lib/rdoc/generator/pot.rb
index a12cba7505..bee1133b07 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/generator/pot.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/generator/pot.rb
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ def extract_messages
     extractor.extract
   end
 
-  require 'rdoc/generator/pot/message_extractor'
-  require 'rdoc/generator/pot/po'
-  require 'rdoc/generator/pot/po_entry'
+  require_relative 'pot/message_extractor'
+  require_relative 'pot/po'
+  require_relative 'pot/po_entry'
 
 end
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/i18n.rb b/lib/rdoc/i18n.rb
index af303858b9..a32fd848a0 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/i18n.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/i18n.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,6 @@
 module RDoc::I18n
 
   autoload :Locale, 'rdoc/i18n/locale'
-  require 'rdoc/i18n/text'
+  require_relative 'i18n/text'
 
 end
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/parser.rb b/lib/rdoc/parser.rb
index 597bcd6b9d..2ee40eed40 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/parser.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/parser.rb
@@ -269,9 +269,9 @@ def initialize top_level, file_name, content, options, stats
 end
 
 # simple must come first in order to show up last in the parsers list
-require 'rdoc/parser/simple'
-require 'rdoc/parser/c'
-require 'rdoc/parser/changelog'
-require 'rdoc/parser/markdown'
-require 'rdoc/parser/rd'
-require 'rdoc/parser/ruby'
+require_relative 'parser/simple'
+require_relative 'parser/c'
+require_relative 'parser/changelog'
+require_relative 'parser/markdown'
+require_relative 'parser/rd'
+require_relative 'parser/ruby'
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/rdoc.rb b/lib/rdoc/rdoc.rb
index ca2c1abefd..efa5c864a0 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/rdoc.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/rdoc.rb
@@ -561,6 +561,6 @@ def remove_siginfo_handler
 end
 
 # require built-in generators after discovery in case they've been replaced
-require 'rdoc/generator/darkfish'
-require 'rdoc/generator/ri'
-require 'rdoc/generator/pot'
+require_relative 'generator/darkfish'
+require_relative 'generator/ri'
+require_relative 'generator/pot'
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/ri/driver.rb b/lib/rdoc/ri/driver.rb
index c4d1dd03df..5399aa9a55 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/ri/driver.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/ri/driver.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 ##
 # For RubyGems backwards compatibility
 
-require 'rdoc/ri/formatter'
+require_relative 'formatter'
 
 ##
 # The RI driver implements the command-line ri tool.
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/ri/paths.rb b/lib/rdoc/ri/paths.rb
index d41e610591..e8f3727592 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/ri/paths.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/ri/paths.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
-require 'rdoc/ri'
+require_relative '../ri'
 
 ##
 # The directories where ri data lives.  Paths can be enumerated via ::each, or
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/ri/task.rb b/lib/rdoc/ri/task.rb
index 6a6ea572bf..1122ea3775 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/ri/task.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/ri/task.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 rescue Gem::LoadError
 end unless defined?(RDoc)
 
-require 'rdoc/task'
+require_relative '../task'
 
 ##
 # RDoc::RI::Task creates ri data in <code>./.rdoc</code> for your project.
diff --git a/lib/rdoc/rubygems_hook.rb b/lib/rdoc/rubygems_hook.rb
index 90b0541fcf..0ecad8b11d 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/rubygems_hook.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/rubygems_hook.rb
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def self.generation_hook installer, specs
   def self.load_rdoc
     return if @rdoc_version
 
-    require 'rdoc/rdoc'
+    require_relative 'rdoc'
 
     @rdoc_version = Gem::Version.new ::RDoc::VERSION
   end