diff --git a/.docker/Dockerfile b/.docker/Dockerfile
index ee4e8683e9a849a2a6bdc6208868e5d82f1f7af7..9312497e64c2234e81c1e873086d9fab1aaa2848 100644
--- a/.docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/.docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-FROM debian:stretch
+FROM mariadb:10.4
 RUN apt-get update && \
-	apt-get install curl mariadb-server -y
+	apt-get install curl make unzip -y
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 59b7925f940cd2d198bb4c9293a35465fd9e0d33..55df502a5eacd70501c2e8e20160a5fcc40a2d4f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ unittests:
   stage: test
   script:
     - cp config.defaults .config
-    - cat .config
+    - echo "MYSQL_USER_PASSWORD=caosdb1234" >> .config
     - . .config || echo "failed"
     - whereis mysql
     - command -v mysql
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ build-testenv:
     - docker login -u indiscale -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY
       # use here general latest or specific branch latest...
     - docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE || true
-    - docker build 
+    - docker build
+      -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=caosdb1234
       --pull
       --cache-from $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE 
       -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE .