diff --git a/.gitlab/ci.sh b/.gitlab/ci.sh
index b0a680795865369c8fb686cd80065f4642025745..0b351b1ae31f9795b05603bc86123b6ee0f98ea4 100755
--- a/.gitlab/ci.sh
+++ b/.gitlab/ci.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ export BOOTSTRAP_HASKELL_NONINTERACTIVE=1
 export BOOTSTRAP_HASKELL_GHC_VERSION=$GHC_VERSION
 export BOOTSTRAP_HASKELL_CABAL_VERSION=$CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION
 export BOOTSTRAP_HASKELL_ADJUST_CABAL_CONFIG=yes
+# We don't use stack, and it isn't available on i386-deb9
+export BOOTSTRAP_HASKELL_INSTALL_NO_STACK=yes
 
 # for some reason the subshell doesn't pick up the arm64 environment on darwin
 # and starts installing x86_64 GHC