diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index a74fb7dc1740096e90a192897b1db90a6fce54fe..5159d4cb7d7748f531ba59b07c972d235aa653f5 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ do-build:
     - "whoami"
     - "env|grep CICD"
     - ""
-    - "cp -r $CICD_TO_TEST_DIR /tmp/peasoup_test"
+    - "rsync -a --exclude='.git'  $CICD_TO_TEST_DIR /tmp/peasoup_test"
     - "cd /tmp/peasoup_test"
     - "source set_env_vars"
     - "sudo ./get-peasoup-packages.sh all"