diff --git a/ci/bootstrap.sh b/ci/bootstrap.sh
index ee4611cc5abad7db00929d2c2eefcc483f5a3d6d..d4f3710629d46e924efda0d546ba0c1e76c9deed 100755
--- a/ci/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/ci/bootstrap.sh
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ check_defined() {
     log_error "Variable ${1} is zero-length - aborting...";
     exit 1
   fi
+  log_info "${1}=${!1}"
 }
 
 
@@ -97,18 +98,11 @@ install_miniconda() {
 }
 
 
-# Exports a given environment variable, verbosely
-export_env() {
-  check_defined "${1}"
-  export ${1}
-  log_info "export ${1}=${!1}"
-}
-
 check_defined CONDA_ROOT
 check_defined CI_PROJECT_DIR
 
-CONDARC=${CONDA_ROOT}/condarc
-export_env CONDARC
+export CONDARC=${CONDA_ROOT}/condarc
+check_defined CONDARC
 
 # checks if a conda installation exists. Otherwise, installs one
 if [ ! -e ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda ]; then
@@ -119,7 +113,7 @@ run_cmd mkdir -p ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs
 run_cmd touch ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/urls
 run_cmd touch ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/urls.txt
 
-cp -fv ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/bob/devtools/data/base-condarc ${CONDARC}
+run_cmd cp -fv ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/bob/devtools/data/base-condarc ${CONDARC}
 echo "channels:" >> ${CONDARC}
 echo "  - http://www.idiap.ch/public/conda" >> ${CONDARC}
 echo "  - defaults" >> ${CONDARC}
diff --git a/ci/build.sh b/ci/build.sh
index 010a1050d1c960900f1324865dc21a6ad26dfc70..e4d3245891635ce304c11f31d3ccad30a1656b49 100755
--- a/ci/build.sh
+++ b/ci/build.sh
@@ -25,32 +25,26 @@ check_defined() {
     log_error "Variable ${1} is zero-length - aborting...";
     exit 1
   fi
+  log_info "${1}=${!1}"
 }
 
 
-# Exports a given environment variable, verbosely
-export_env() {
-  check_defined "${1}"
-  export ${1}
-  log_info "export ${1}=${!1}"
-}
-
 check_defined CONDA_ROOT
 check_defined CI_PROJECT_DIR
 check_defined CI_PROJECT_NAME
-check_defined CI_COMMIT_TAG
 check_defined PYTHON_VERSION
 
-CONDARC=${CONDA_ROOT}/condarc
-export_env CONDARC
+export CONDARC=${CONDA_ROOT}/condarc
+check_defined CONDARC
 
-BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION=`cat version.txt | tr -d '\n'`;
-export_env BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION
+export BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION=`cat version.txt | tr -d '\n'`;
+check_defined BOB_PACKAGE_VERSION
 
 # Makes sure we activate the base environment if available
 run_cmd source ${CONDA_ROOT}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 run_cmd conda activate base
-export_env PATH
+export PATH
+check_defined PATH
 
 if [ -z "${CI_COMMIT_TAG}" ]; then #building beta
   channel="http://www.idiap.ch/public/conda/label/beta"