diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6e09f283cf24fa963fdb4ad3cc4a61a2ef83a3af..2d935b822e75a3eb8b868610ca518254a10b8d92 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -340,11 +340,10 @@ jug_dev:default:
     ## calculate a hash based on the spack.yaml file and the spack directory
     ## and use this spack as a docker variable to force a rebuild when there
     ## is a change (versus rerun from cache)
-    - PACKAGE_HASH=$(tar cf - spack* | sha1sum | head -c40)
-    - echo "PACKAGE_HASH= ${PACKAGE_HASH}"
-    ## move spack directory and spack.yaml into the container build directory
-    - cp -r spack containers/jug
-    - cp -r spack.yaml containers/jug/spack/spack.yaml
+    - PACKAGE_HASH=$(sha1sum spack.yaml | head -c40)
+    - echo "PACKAGE_HASH=${PACKAGE_HASH}"
+    ## move spack.yaml into the container build directory
+    - cp -r spack.yaml containers/jug
     - CACHE_FLAG=""
     - |
       if [ $FORCE_NOCACHE = 1 ]; then