diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b69183fefa265a33dae2b211e318922abc662c73..5e123f091562dc954c25c19819867b0e9dc35e6f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ test_create_dummy_script:
          - python db_scripts/create_dummy_data.py
 
 build_debian:
-  image: debian
+  image: node
   stage: build
   only:
     - tags
@@ -84,7 +84,10 @@ build_debian:
       - "*.deb"
   script:
     - apt-get update
-    - DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y dh-make build-essential lintian devscripts xsltproc fakeroot xsltproc docbook-xsl
+    - DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y --allow-unauthenticated libsasl2-dev libssl-dev locales locales-all python3 dh-make build-essential lintian devscripts xsltproc fakeroot xsltproc docbook-xsl
+    - pip install --use-deprecated=legacy-resolver -r requirements.txt --default-timeout=180 -i https://pypi.lcsb.uni.lu/simple/
+    - pip install --use-deprecated=legacy-resolver -r requirements-dev.txt --default-timeout=180 -i https://pypi.lcsb.uni.lu/simple/
+
     - export DEBFULLNAME="Piotr Gawron"
     - export DEBEMAIL="piotr.gawron@uni.lu"
     - chmod 0755 build_deb.sh
diff --git a/build_deb.sh b/build_deb.sh
index d79a514ef9b1b8b25e8829bdda86ca5e19a683c0..12983c6ab7cd89dffb38717d72456df7d7b8726f 100644
--- a/build_deb.sh
+++ b/build_deb.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ find . -name "__pycache__" -exec rm -rf {} \;
 mkdir debian
 mkdir debian/smash
 cp -r smash/web debian/smash/web
+cp -r smash/package.json debian/smash/
 cp -r smash/smash debian/smash/smash
 cp -r smash/db_scripts debian/smash/db_scripts
 cp smash/manage.py debian/smash/manage.py
@@ -19,7 +20,23 @@ cp -r debian-files debian/debian-files
 
 CURRENT_VERSION=`cat CHANGELOG |grep smasch |head -1 | cut -f2 -d'(' | cut -f1 -d')' | cut -f1 -d'-' `
 
-cd debian
+#collect npm dependencies to include it in debian package
+cd debian/smash
+echo "import os" > smash/local_settings.py
+echo "STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),'../tmp-static')" >> smash/local_settings.py
+echo "UPLOAD_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),'../tmp-static')" >> smash/local_settings.py
+echo "SECRET_KEY ='tmp'" >> smash/local_settings.py
+echo "STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'" >> smash/local_settings.py
+npm install
+./manage.py collectstatic
+rm -rf node_modules
+mv tmp-static/npm node_modules
+
+rm smash/local_settings.py
+rm -rf tmp-static
+cd ..
+
+
 dh_make -p smasch_$CURRENT_VERSION -s --createorig -e piotr.gawron@uni.lu -y -t $ROOT/debian/debian-template
 rm debian/*.ex
 rm debian/*.EX
diff --git a/debian-template/install b/debian-template/install
index b122a4d00f031b2026c6611458070d589c63ee0f..23eb621df21b01fb7d9259168eff72b97b960850 100644
--- a/debian-template/install
+++ b/debian-template/install
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 smash/manage.py /usr/lib/smasch
 smash/web /usr/lib/smasch
 smash/smash /usr/lib/smasch
+smash/node_modules /usr/lib/smasch
+smash/package.json /usr/lib/smasch
 ../requirements.txt /usr/lib/smasch
 ../requirements-dev.txt /usr/lib/smasch
 debian-files/smasch.py /etc/smasch/