diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index a730e39e..0d1713c0 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ image: fdroid/ci:server-20161223
 test:
   script:
     - mkdir -p /usr/lib/python3.4/site-packages/
+    # workaround https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/937
+    - pip3 install setuptools==33.1.1
     - pip3 install -e .
     - cd tests
     - ./complete-ci-tests
diff --git a/tests/complete-ci-tests b/tests/complete-ci-tests
index 9f7e146f..558427e3 100755
--- a/tests/complete-ci-tests
+++ b/tests/complete-ci-tests
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ python3 setup.py sdist
 rm -rf $WORKSPACE/env
 pyvenv $WORKSPACE/env
 . $WORKSPACE/env/bin/activate
+# workaround https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/937
+pip3 install setuptools==33.1.1
 pip3 install dist/fdroidserver-*.tar.gz
 
 # run tests in new pip+pyvenv install
@@ -68,6 +70,8 @@ cd $WORKSPACE
 rm -rf $WORKSPACE/env
 pyvenv $WORKSPACE/env
 . $WORKSPACE/env/bin/activate
+# workaround https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/937
+pip3 install setuptools==33.1.1
 pip3 install -e $WORKSPACE
 python3 setup.py install