diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1ccd0ab4e1155535e774da6905101df4f66b130b..7ce1c643115b53ec975057cbeda920c29743f36e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ add-commit:
 
       # create the commit.json which is to send to the commit api of gitlab
     - echo -n "{\"branch\"${COLON} \"main\", \"commit_message\"${COLON} \"new commit via ci pipeline\", \"actions\"${COLON} [ { \"action\"${COLON} \"update\", \"file_path\"${COLON} \"versions.json\", \"encoding\"${COLON} \"base64\", \"content\"${COLON} \"" > commit.json
-    - echo -n "$(base64 versions.json)" >> commit.json
+    - echo -n "$(base64 -w 0 versions.json)" >> commit.json
     - echo -n '" } ] }' >> commit.json
 
     - DATA="$(cat commit.json)"