diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 65d11f37c8cb30ed98c32c3fb8128d432184b89e..2aef8ba8fb382cdcd617b1305ba316e51fbc922d 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ test:
     - echo "CAOSDB_TAG = $CAOSDB_TAG"
     - echo "DEPLOY_REF = $DEPLOY_REF"
     - docker load < /image-cache/caosdb-${F_BRANCH}.tar || true
-    - docker pull $CI_REGISTRY/caosdb/src/caosdb-deploy:$CAOSDB_TAG || CAOSDB_TAG=${DEFAULT_CAOSDB_TAG}_F_dev ;
+    - docker pull $CI_REGISTRY/caosdb/src/caosdb-deploy:$CAOSDB_TAG || CAOSDB_TAG=dev ;
     - echo "CAOSDB_TAG = $CAOSDB_TAG"
 
     - docker load < /image-cache/${OCTAVEINTTEST_IMAGE_CACHE} || true
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ test:
     - ls -la cert
 
       # here the server and the mysql backend docker are being started
-    - CAOSDB_TAG=$CAOSDB_TAG docker-compose  up -d
+    - CAOSDB_TAG="$CAOSDB_TAG" docker-compose up -d
       # store versions of CaosDB parts
     - docker exec -u 0 -t docker_caosdb-server_1 cat /opt/caosdb/git/caosdb_server_commit | tee hash_server
     - docker exec -u 0 -t docker_caosdb-server_1 cat /opt/caosdb/git/caosdb_mysqlbackend_commit | tee hash_mysql