diff --git a/bob/devtools/build.py b/bob/devtools/build.py
index 45ca6acb161b78a8de8b5c27cba799fb75a78245..e91b29c9639cfff797def315fc187e072a451dde 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/build.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/build.py
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ def cli(
     )
 
     if "channels" not in condarc_options:
-        condarc_options["channels"] = channels + ["defaults"]
+        condarc_options["channels"] = channels + ["conda-forge"]
 
     # populate ctx.obj
     ctx.obj["verbose"] = verbose