diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c9d51866af7472b060a9b4a3063a866a52a94d87..cd1996e4638549c3bc5d3023d7d08d0c7effe291 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+variables:
+  # older versions of git have issues fetching.
+  GIT_STRATEGY: clone
+
+
 before_script:
   - docker info
   - '[ -d tmp ] || mkdir tmp'
@@ -20,15 +25,18 @@ rpm-build:
     name: "$CI_PROJECT_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
 
 
+rpm-deploy-ci:
+  stage: deploy
+  only:
+    - tags
+  script:
+    - ./tmp/ondemand-packaging/release.py --debug --pkey /systems/osc_certs/ssh/ondemand-packaging/id_rsa -c ci ./tmp/output/*
 rpm-deploy:
-  variables:
-    RLS_SCRIPT: "./tmp/ondemand-packaging/release.py"
-    RLS_KEY: "/systems/osc_certs/ssh/ondemand-packaging/id_rsa"
-    RLS_OUTPUT: "./tmp/output/*"
-    SECTION: "main"
   stage: deploy
   only:
     - tags
+  except:
+    variables:
+      - $CI_COMMIT_TAG =~ /.*_.*/
   script:
-    - if [[ "$CI_COMMIT_TAG" =~ .*_.* ]]; then export SECTION=ci; fi
-    - $RLS_SCRIPT --debug --pkey $RLS_KEY -c $SECTION $RLS_OUTPUT
+    - ./tmp/ondemand-packaging/release.py --debug --pkey /systems/osc_certs/ssh/ondemand-packaging/id_rsa -c main ./tmp/output/*