diff --git a/gitlab/functions.sh b/gitlab/functions.sh
index 33b634fb7d0392440c5d2d8529b4167fdc1166b7..78b1d7bb7e29b2aa23b0e6a1391efe49b2bdc877 100644
--- a/gitlab/functions.sh
+++ b/gitlab/functions.sh
@@ -443,5 +443,5 @@ export_env LC_ALL
 
 # Set up the location of matplotlibrc:
 # https://matplotlib.org/users/customizing.html#the-matplotlibrc-file
-MATPLOTLIBRC="_ci"
+MATPLOTLIBRC="${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/_ci"
 export_env MATPLOTLIBRC
diff --git a/gitlab/recipe_append.yaml b/gitlab/recipe_append.yaml
index 0ccd3b2c238e58abb6809f769749543b9b0c01f8..dcfb307636a82766c6e1d0740dd78909afdd81ec 100644
--- a/gitlab/recipe_append.yaml
+++ b/gitlab/recipe_append.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
 build:
   script_env:
     - DOCSERVER
-    - MATPLOTLIBRC