diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 994774250f..bc6aee6aba 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@ include:
   - local: '/.gitlab-ci-edk2.yml'
   - local: '/.gitlab-ci-opensbi.yml'
 
-before_script:
- - apt-get update -qq
- - apt-get install -y -qq libglib2.0-dev libpixman-1-dev genisoimage
+.update_apt_template: &before_script_apt
+ before_script:
+  - apt-get update -qq
+  - apt-get install -y -qq libglib2.0-dev libpixman-1-dev genisoimage
 
 build-system1:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - apt-get install -y -qq libgtk-3-dev libvte-dev nettle-dev libcacard-dev
       libusb-dev libvde-dev libspice-protocol-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libvdeplug-dev
@@ -19,6 +21,7 @@ build-system1:
  - make -j2 check
 
 build-system2:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - apt-get install -y -qq libsdl2-dev libgcrypt-dev libbrlapi-dev libaio-dev
       libfdt-dev liblzo2-dev librdmacm-dev libibverbs-dev libibumad-dev
@@ -32,6 +35,7 @@ build-system2:
  - make -j2 check
 
 build-disabled:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - mkdir build
  - cd build
@@ -46,6 +50,7 @@ build-disabled:
  - make -j2 check-qtest SPEED=slow
 
 build-tcg-disabled:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - apt-get install -y -qq clang libgtk-3-dev libusb-dev
  - mkdir build
@@ -64,6 +69,7 @@ build-tcg-disabled:
             260 261 262 263 264 270 272 273 277 279
 
 build-user:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - mkdir build
  - cd build
@@ -73,6 +79,7 @@ build-user:
  - make run-tcg-tests-i386-linux-user run-tcg-tests-x86_64-linux-user
 
 build-clang:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - apt-get install -y -qq clang libsdl2-dev libattr1-dev libcap-ng-dev
       xfslibs-dev libiscsi-dev libnfs-dev libseccomp-dev gnutls-dev librbd-dev
@@ -85,6 +92,7 @@ build-clang:
  - make -j2 check
 
 build-tci:
+ <<: *before_script_apt
  script:
  - TARGETS="aarch64 alpha arm hppa m68k microblaze moxie ppc64 s390x x86_64"
  - mkdir build