diff --git a/debian/get-branch.sh b/debian/get-branch.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0fbcc1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/get-branch.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash -e
+if [ -z ${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME+x} ]; then
+    # CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME is unset, try to derive it from git
+    git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
+else
+    echo "${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}"
+fi
+    
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 6a9db60..5295052 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ export DH_GOLANG_EXCLUDES := tools/
 
 PKG := gitlab.com/signald/signald-go
 GO_LDFLAGS += -X $(PKG)/cmd/signaldctl/common.Version=$(DEB_VERSION)
-GO_LDFLAGS += -X $(PKG)/cmd/signaldctl/common.Branch=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
+GO_LDFLAGS += -X $(PKG)/cmd/signaldctl/common.Branch=$(shell debian/get-branch.sh)
 GO_LDFLAGS += -X $(PKG)/cmd/signaldctl/common.Commit=$(CI_BUILD_REF)
 
 override_dh_auto_install: