diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 70f680e8ab5d388d64ff692e15aaa87efc7e66d5..8986a85794249595412831b098f5625d4dc8c049 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -3,12 +3,8 @@ variables:
   GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
 
 before_script:
-- echo "Running make concurrently with $(nproc) cores, where possibly"
+- echo "Running make concurrently with ${DUNECI_PARALLEL} cores, where possibly"
 - patches/apply_patches.sh
-# detect number of processors, but make sure never to run with -j"", as the
-# build host would likely run out of memory
-- ": ${DUNECI_PARALLEL:=$(nproc || echo 1)}"
-- export DUNECI_PARALLEL
 
 git--gcc:
   image: registry.dune-project.org/joe/dune-perftool-ci/perftool-base:git