diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index aa44235194fe12257f8176024b88cd81e4a9d19d..e50145c9d0ee0a9d2be1818601e55b8f2424006c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ dpdk:
     - echo "Running global pre-install..."
     - !reference [before_script]
     - echo "Running local pre-install..."
+    - mkdir /dpdk
+    - pushd /dpdk
     - export RTE_SDK=`pwd`/dpdk-$DPDK_VERSION;
       export RTE_TARGET=x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc;
       export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=${RTE_SDK}/install/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pkgconfig/;
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ dpdk:
             cd build && ( ninja && ninja install ) ;  cd .. ; cd .. ;
       fi;
       ldconfig
+    - popd
   script:
         - ls $PKG_CONFIG_PATH
         - echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH