diff --git a/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage b/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
index 9a34012..a30ba63 100755
--- a/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
+++ b/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ else
 fi
 dpkg-checkbuilddeps
 debversion=$(dpkg-parsechangelog -S Version)
+buildpackage_options=
 if [[ $debversion = *-* ]]; then
   echo "ensure pristine-tar branch exists and is current"
   git clean -fdx
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ if [[ $debversion = *-* ]]; then
       dpkg -i tar_1.29b-1.1_amd64.deb
       rm -f tar_1.29b-1.1_amd64.deb
     fi
+    buildpackage_options=--git-pristine-tar
   else
       echo "no pristine-tar branch, trying uscan";
       apt_get_auto_install gnupg2 libwww-perl;
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ fi
 echo "make $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME branch current for gbp"
 git checkout -B "$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME" "$CI_COMMIT_SHA"
 if [ -z "$CI_COMMIT_TAG" ]; then
-    gbp buildpackage -uc -us --git-debian-branch="$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
+    gbp buildpackage -uc -us $buildpackage_options --git-debian-branch="$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
 else
-    gbp buildpackage -uc -us
+    gbp buildpackage -uc -us $buildpackage_options
 fi