diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c267b3fcc3df8b83b85d45c9fbd11b82185b1b32..2b087014fc6cf5813a4de147b9c71f5bace9bde1 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ variables:
   IMAGE_REGISTRY_URL: $CI_REGISTRY/dumux-repositories/dumux-docker-ci
   DUMUX_CI_TRIGGER_LECTURE_BRANCH: master
   DUMUX_CI_DUNE_LATEST_RELEASE: "2.9"
+  GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
 
 # Cases in which to create pipelines at all. The trigger jobs may further
 # specify how exactly they should be created in different situations.
@@ -123,7 +124,6 @@ full-dune-master-gcc-cpp-20:
     DUMUX_ENABLE_CPPCHECK: "true"
     DUMUX_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_BUILD: "true"
     DUMUX_CHECK_EXAMPLE_DOCS: "true"
-    GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
 
 ##################################
 # additional scheduled pipelines #
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/default.yml b/.gitlab-ci/default.yml
index c09c78c31b12f8b456bc9138a457209052bb6a5a..743d01550c78e4c2342548801cfdd4621cc494c6 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/default.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/default.yml
@@ -33,11 +33,6 @@ configure:
   stage: configure
   script:
     - |
-      # remove submodules (may be present due to caching done by gitlab, although this pipeline may not support the submodule)
-      rm -rf deps/*
-      if [ "${GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY}" == "recursive" ]; then
-          git submodule update --init --recursive
-      fi
       echo "source ${DUNE_OPTS_FILE}" > opts_file.opts
       echo "CMAKE_FLAGS=\"\${CMAKE_FLAGS} -DCXX_MAX_STANDARD=${CXX_MAX_STANDARD} -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON\"" >> opts_file.opts
     - dunecontrol --opts=opts_file.opts --current configure