diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index a49d3ae23ba594874d161795f7640a029a42918a..34d2ee114e286b1f54d3971ed4f19fc486d746a3 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ build sidecar rabbit init:
     - git clone --depth 1 $repos_url
     - cd ${SUBCOMP_REPOS}
     # most recent docker image should be tagged with most recent SHA
-    - docker_tag=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+    - docker_tag=$(git rev-parse --short=8 HEAD)
     - echo $docker_tag
     - cd chart
     # make the docker tag available in later stages