diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index dcde3b34622e18c7fd90c331712a96538dcc0ca2..d7a667bdbf7bfd59b82091359f27f700d7c5898e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -81,10 +81,8 @@ package-debian-job:
     # copy project files to be packaged
     - mkdir -p ${DEB_BUILD_DIR}/usr/local/
     - cp -r /usr/local/verapdf ${DEB_BUILD_DIR}/usr/local/
-    # copy & rename deb control file template
-    - cp gitlab-ci/verapdf.control ${DEB_BUILD_DIR}/DEBIAN/control
-    # set package version
-    - sed -i "s#VERSION_PLACEHOLDER#$VERAPDF_VERSION-$REVISION#g" ${DEB_BUILD_DIR}/DEBIAN/control
+    # create deb control file from template
+    - sed "s#VERSION_PLACEHOLDER#${VERAPDF_VERSION}-${REVISION}#g" gitlab-ci/verapdf.control > "${DEB_BUILD_DIR}/DEBIAN/control"
     # add checksums
     - pushd ${DEB_BUILD_DIR}
     - find * -type f -not -path 'DEBIAN/*' -exec md5sum \{\} \; | sort -k2 > DEBIAN/md5sums