diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e5932d0f16a7009ef4e7270a518f2175bf12807b..e7c0a920cf811661fe44acc35124378f54fab332 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@ variables:
 .xercesc-build-template-job: &xercesc-job
   stage: step-A
   variables:
-    CMAKE_ARGS: -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install/xerces-c-${XERCESC_VERSION} # was: ${CMAKE_BASE_ARGS}
     XERCESC_VERSION: ${XERCESC_VERSION_BASE}
+    CMAKE_ARGS: ${CMAKE_BASE_ARGS}
   script:
     - pwd; ls
     - wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/xerces/c/3/sources/xerces-c-${XERCESC_VERSION}.tar.gz
@@ -123,7 +123,10 @@ variables:
     - cd ../
     - mkdir Geant4-build
     - cd Geant4-build
-    - cmake ${CMAKE_ARGS} -DGEANT4_INSTALL_DATA=ON -DGEANT4_USE_GDML=ON -DGEANT4_BUILD_MULTITHREADED=ON -DXERCESC_ROOT_DIR=install/xerces-c-${XERCESC_VERSION}/ ../geant4 -DGEANT4_USE_SYSTEM_EXPAT=OFF
+    - ls;
+    - ls ../
+    - ls ../install
+    - cmake ${CMAKE_ARGS} -DGEANT4_INSTALL_DATA=ON -DGEANT4_USE_GDML=ON -DGEANT4_BUILD_MULTITHREADED=ON -DXERCESC_ROOT_DIR=../install ../geant4 -DGEANT4_USE_SYSTEM_EXPAT=OFF
     - make -j4
     - make install
   artifacts:
@@ -259,8 +262,8 @@ ubu-XercesC-323:
   <<: *ubuntu-job
   <<: *xercesc-job
   variables:
-    CMAKE_ARGS: ${CMAKE_BASE_ARGS}
     XERCESC_VERSION: 3.2.3
+    CMAKE_ARGS: -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install/xerces-c-${XERCESC_VERSION} # was: ${CMAKE_BASE_ARGS}
 
 ubu-geant4:
   <<: *ubuntu-job