diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 9e8853066de667befb419ffe75a842cb31e97618..5769a6ebd38d5e2c3116875700ebbd977c6d778e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 stages:
-  - update_packages
   - build
   - regression
   - tests
@@ -14,16 +13,7 @@ default:
     - echo "setwd(\"$(pwd)\")" > .Rprofile
     - PATH=~/R/sources/R-${R_VERSION}/bin:$PATH
     - rename "s/${R_VERSION}.airGR/airGR/" *.tar.gz
-    - R -e 'chooseCRANmirror(graphics = FALSE, ind = 1); pkg <- "caRamel"; pkgInst <- installed.packages()[, "Package"]; pkgMiss <- setdiff(pkg, pkgInst); if (length(pkgMiss) > 0) install.packages(pkgMiss)'
-
-.update_packages:
-  stage: update_packages
-  only:
-    refs:
-      - tags
-      - schedules
-  script:
-    - Rscript -e "update.packages(ask=FALSE, repos=\"http://cran.r-project.org\")"
+    - R -e 'remotes::install_deps(dep = T)'
 
 .build:
   stage: build
@@ -63,11 +53,6 @@ default:
     AS_CRAN: "true"
   extends: .check
 
-update_packages_patched:
-  variables:
-    R_VERSION: "patched"
-  extends: .update_packages
-
 build_patched:
   variables:
     R_VERSION: "patched"
@@ -104,11 +89,6 @@ check_as_cran_patched:
     R_VERSION: "patched"
   extends: .check_as_cran
 
-update_packages_devel:
-  variables:
-    R_VERSION: "devel"
-  extends: .update_packages
-
 build_devel:
   only:
     refs:
@@ -136,11 +116,6 @@ check_as_cran_devel:
     R_VERSION: "devel"
   extends: .check_as_cran
 
-update_packages_oldrel:
-  variables:
-    R_VERSION: "oldrel"
-  extends: .update_packages
-
 build_oldrel:
   only:
     refs: