diff --git a/.docker/pycaosdb.ini b/.docker/pycaosdb.ini
index 8a867a3eb75c06c8492e129460cb135e7e5d9bdd..1e5ba293fa3a7bf294c78a88543d3d6433aabefd 100644
--- a/.docker/pycaosdb.ini
+++ b/.docker/pycaosdb.ini
@@ -14,6 +14,3 @@ ssl_insecure=True
 timeout=500
 [Container]
 debug=0
-
-[Misc]
-sendmail=/usr/local/bin/sendmail_to_file
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1fb4a6ff56bd3d220d4f7833a6e67c8fc4378ca9..dfd6a0bf8d5b2985528ef7f69a8608ae6824dd48 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -115,5 +115,4 @@ unittest:
   stage: unittest
   image: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE
   script:
-      - cp .docker/pycaosdb.ini .
       - tox
diff --git a/unittests/test_sss_helper.py b/unittests/test_sss_helper.py
index 24dababb37fb5b4454ae4853725899b3f8ff304a..ca53f0c8172f53d913733c5dbde93ac04bb02c45 100644
--- a/unittests/test_sss_helper.py
+++ b/unittests/test_sss_helper.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 from os.path import abspath, dirname, join, isfile, exists
 from os import listdir, remove
 from email import message_from_file, policy
-from caosdb import configure_connection, RecordType
+from pytest import mark
+from caosdb import configure_connection, RecordType, get_config
 from caosdb.connection.mockup import (MockUpServerConnection, MockUpResponse)
 from caosadvancedtools.serverside.helper import (parse_arguments, get_data,
                                                  init_data_model, send_mail)
@@ -60,6 +61,9 @@ def test_init_data_model():
     assert rt.id == 1234
 
 
+@mark.skipif("Misc" not in get_config() or
+             "sendmail" not in get_config()["Misc"],
+             reason="sendmail client not defined")
 def test_send_mail():
     assert len(get_tmp_mails()) == 0
     send_mail("me@example.com", "you@example.com", "the subject", "hello!")