diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 460842bfe8..35644f9ec6 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ lint:
       - schedules
       - pipelines
   before_script:
-    - ./tools/trigger-issuebot
     - printf "Package\x3a androguard fdroidserver python3-asn1crypto python3-ruamel.yaml\nPin\x3a release a=stretch-backports\nPin-Priority\x3a 500\n" > /etc/apt/preferences.d/debian-stretch-backports.pref
     - echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ stretch-backports main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.list
     - apt-get update
@@ -59,6 +58,18 @@ lint:
     - ./tools/check-metadata-summary-whitespace.py || export EXITVALUE=1
     - exit $EXITVALUE
 
+trigger-issuebot:
+  image: alpine
+  only:
+    - branches
+  except:
+    - master@fdroid/fdroiddata
+  variables:
+    GIT_DEPTH: "1"
+  script:
+    - apk add --no-cache bash curl
+    - ./tools/trigger-issuebot
+
 checkupdates_trigger:
   only:
     refs:
@@ -176,6 +187,9 @@ pages:
       - repo/index.xml
       - tmp/apkcache.json
     when: always
+  # needs lots of git history since it has to compare the merge request to current master
+  variables:
+    GIT_DEPTH: "5000"
   script:
     - apt-get update
     - apt-get dist-upgrade
diff --git a/tools/trigger-issuebot b/tools/trigger-issuebot
index 988ea3480e..f82b151e97 100755
--- a/tools/trigger-issuebot
+++ b/tools/trigger-issuebot
@@ -1,9 +1,29 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
 
+get_merge_request_iid() {
+    for page in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19; do
+	for mr in `curl --silent ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${project_id}/merge_requests?page=${page} | grep -Eo '"iid": *[0-9]+' | grep -Eo '[0-9]+$'`; do
+	    if curl --silent ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${project_id}/merge_requests/$mr/pipelines \
+		    | grep -Eo "\"id\": *${CI_PIPELINE_ID}," > /dev/null; then
+		echo $mr
+		return 0
+	    fi
+	done
+    done
+}
+
 # insecure "captcha"
 s=$((4`printf "$CI_COMMIT_SHA" | wc -c`-10))
 e=$((s+`echo "$CI_SERVER_HOST" | wc -c`+18))
 issuebot=`cat .issuebot | cut -b${s}-${e}`
+project_id=36528
+CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID=`get_merge_request_iid`
+
+if test -z "$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID"; then
+    echo "$0 No merge request found, not triggering"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 curl --silent --request POST \
      --form token=$issuebot \
      --form ref=master \
@@ -11,8 +31,9 @@ curl --silent --request POST \
      --form "variables[FROM_CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG]=$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG" \
      --form "variables[FROM_CI_COMMIT_SHA]=$CI_COMMIT_SHA" \
      --form "variables[FROM_CI_JOB_ID]=$CI_JOB_ID" \
+     --form "variables[FROM_CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID]=$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID" \
      --form "variables[FROM_CI_PIPELINE_ID]=$CI_PIPELINE_ID" \
      --form "variables[FROM_CI_PROJECT_PATH]=$CI_PROJECT_PATH" \
      --form "variables[FROM_CI_PROJECT_URL]=$CI_PROJECT_URL" \
-     ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/36528/trigger/pipeline > /dev/null \
+     ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${project_id}/trigger/pipeline > /dev/null \
     || echo "$0 failed to post to a merge request"