diff --git a/.gitlab-ci-buster.Dockerfile b/.gitlab-ci-buster.Dockerfile
index d85d5301d4ba9ff32b41deee14ba483cb1dcd306..4a16b1badac2ad020c5f1c0ef68a66112b249ac8 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci-buster.Dockerfile
+++ b/.gitlab-ci-buster.Dockerfile
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ COPY debs /srv/local-apt=repository
 
 # install debs & cleanup
 RUN apt-get update && \
+      apt-get -y upgrade && \
+      apt-get -y install lalsuite lalsuite-dev lalsuite-octave && \
+      dpkg -P lalsuite lalsuite-dev lalsuite-octave && \
       apt-get -y install local-apt-repository && \
       /usr/lib/local-apt-repository/rebuild && \
       apt-get update && \
-      apt-get -y install lscsoft-lalsuite && \
+      apt-get upgrade && \
       rm -rf /var/lib/apts/lists/*
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c029419fb7083d5446479bb9ab54b10c9d9eabae..2881855867a112b755d6f6c65cff9bd2cc3bddf2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1354,7 +1354,9 @@ upgrade:debian:buster:
     - rm *.changes *.dsc *.orig.tar.xz
     - ls | grep -P "lal.*-\d+(\.\d+)+" | xargs -d"\n" rm -rf
     # install latest lalsuite release
-    - apt-get -y -q install lal* python*-lal*
+    - apt-get -y -q install lalsuite lalsuite-dev lalsuite-octave
+    # remove lalsuite meta-packages
+    - dpkg -r lalsuite lalsuite-dev lalsuite-octave
     # generate local apt repository metadata
     - /usr/lib/local-apt-repository/rebuild
     # install new packages