diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 63598e89..d0b1a01f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ cache:
 
 variables:
   ci_in_docker: "yes"
+  ci_local_packages: "yes"
   ci_parallel: "2"
   ci_sudo: "yes"
   ci_distro: "debian"
diff --git a/tools/ci-build.sh b/tools/ci-build.sh
index 94caa370..f77f11c2 100755
--- a/tools/ci-build.sh
+++ b/tools/ci-build.sh
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@ init_wine() {
 # See ci-install.sh
 : "${ci_host:=native}"
 
+# ci_local_packages:
+# prefer local packages instead of distribution
+# See ci-install.sh
+: "${ci_local_packages:=yes}"
+
 # ci_parallel:
 # A number of parallel jobs, passed to make -j
 : "${ci_parallel:=1}"
@@ -154,10 +159,12 @@ NOCONFIGURE=1 ./autogen.sh
 
 case "$ci_buildsys" in
     (cmake-dist)
+        # clean up directories from possible previous builds
+        rm -rf ci-build-dist
         # Do an Autotools `make dist`, then build *that* with CMake,
         # to assert that our official release tarballs will be enough
         # to build with CMake.
-        mkdir ci-build-dist
+        mkdir -p ci-build-dist
         ( cd ci-build-dist; ../configure )
         make -C ci-build-dist dist
         tar --xz -xvf ci-build-dist/dbus-1.*.tar.xz
@@ -165,46 +172,43 @@ case "$ci_buildsys" in
         ;;
 esac
 
-srcdir="$(pwd)"
-mkdir ci-build-${ci_variant}-${ci_host}
-cd ci-build-${ci_variant}-${ci_host}
-
-make="make -j${ci_parallel} V=1 VERBOSE=1"
-
+#
+# cross compile setup
+#
 case "$ci_host" in
     (*-w64-mingw32)
-        mirror=http://repo.msys2.org/mingw/${ci_host%%-*}
-        if [ "${ci_host%%-*}" = i686 ]; then
-            mingw="$(pwd)/mingw32"
+        if [ "$ci_local_packages" = yes ]; then
+            dep_prefix=$(pwd)/${ci_host}-prefix
         else
-            mingw="$(pwd)/mingw64"
+            # assume the compiler was configured with a sysroot (e.g. openSUSE)
+            sysroot=$("${ci_host}-gcc" --print-sysroot)
+            # check if the prefix is a subdir of sysroot (e.g. openSUSE)
+            if [ -d "${sysroot}/${ci_host}" ]; then
+                dep_prefix="${sysroot}/${ci_host}"
+            else
+                # fallback: assume the dependency libraries were built with --prefix=/${ci_host}
+                dep_prefix="/${ci_host}"
+                export PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR="${sysroot}"
+            fi
         fi
-        install -d "${mingw}"
-        export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="${mingw}/lib/pkgconfig"
+
+        export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="${dep_prefix}/lib/pkgconfig"
         export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=
-        export PKG_CONFIG="pkg-config --define-variable=prefix=${mingw}"
+        export PKG_CONFIG="pkg-config --define-variable=prefix=${dep_prefix}"
         unset CC
         unset CXX
-        for pkg in \
-            bzip2-1.0.8-1 \
-            expat-2.2.9-1 \
-            gcc-libs-9.3.0-2 \
-            gettext-0.19.8.1-8 \
-            glib2-2.64.2-1 \
-            iconv-1.16-1 \
-            libffi-3.3-1 \
-            libiconv-1.16-1 \
-            libwinpthread-git-8.0.0.5814.9dbf4cc1-1 \
-            pcre-8.44-1 \
-            zlib-1.2.11-7 \
-            ; do
-            wget ${mirror}/mingw-w64-${ci_host%%-*}-${pkg}-any.pkg.tar.xz
-            tar -xvf mingw-w64-${ci_host%%-*}-${pkg}-any.pkg.tar.xz
-        done
         export TMPDIR=/tmp
         ;;
 esac
 
+srcdir="$(pwd)"
+# clean up directories from possible previous builds
+rm -rf ci-build-${ci_variant}-${ci_host}
+mkdir -p ci-build-${ci_variant}-${ci_host}
+cd ci-build-${ci_variant}-${ci_host}
+
+make="make -j${ci_parallel} V=1 VERBOSE=1"
+
 case "$ci_buildsys" in
     (autotools)
         case "$ci_variant" in
@@ -370,16 +374,18 @@ case "$ci_buildsys" in
                     if [ "$ci_runtime" = "shared" ]; then
                         libgcc_path=$(dirname "$("${ci_host}-gcc" -print-libgcc-file-name)")
                     fi
-                    init_wine "${mingw}/bin" "$(pwd)/bin" ${libgcc_path:+"$libgcc_path"}
+                    init_wine "${dep_prefix}/bin" "$(pwd)/bin" ${libgcc_path:+"$libgcc_path"}
                     cmdwrapper="xvfb-run -a"
                 fi
                 set _ "$@"
                 set "$@" -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="${srcdir}/cmake/${ci_host}.cmake"
-                set "$@" -D CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="${mingw}"
-                set "$@" -D CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH="${mingw}/include"
-                set "$@" -D CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH="${mingw}/lib"
-                set "$@" -D EXPAT_LIBRARY="${mingw}/lib/libexpat.dll.a"
-                set "$@" -D GLIB2_LIBRARIES="${mingw}/lib/libglib-2.0.dll.a ${mingw}/lib/libgobject-2.0.dll.a ${mingw}/lib/libgio-2.0.dll.a"
+                set "$@" -D CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="${dep_prefix}"
+                if [ "$ci_local_packages" = yes ]; then
+                    set "$@" -D CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH="${dep_prefix}/include"
+                    set "$@" -D CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH="${dep_prefix}/lib"
+                    set "$@" -D EXPAT_LIBRARY="${dep_prefix}/lib/libexpat.dll.a"
+                    set "$@" -D GLIB2_LIBRARIES="${dep_prefix}/lib/libglib-2.0.dll.a ${dep_prefix}/lib/libgobject-2.0.dll.a ${dep_prefix}/lib/libgio-2.0.dll.a"
+                fi
                 if [ "$ci_test" = yes ]; then
                     set "$@" -D DBUS_USE_WINE=1
                 fi
diff --git a/tools/ci-install.sh b/tools/ci-install.sh
index 10a0e1d3..b026d4d3 100755
--- a/tools/ci-install.sh
+++ b/tools/ci-install.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ NULL=
 # (ci_docker is empty in this case).
 : "${ci_in_docker:=no}"
 
+# ci_local_packages:
+# prefer local packages instead of distribution
+: "${ci_local_packages:=yes}"
+
 # ci_suite:
 # OS suite (release, branch) in which we are testing.
 # Typical values for ci_distro=debian: sid, jessie
@@ -105,68 +109,85 @@ case "$ci_distro" in
         esac
 
         $sudo apt-get -qq -y update
+        packages=()
 
         case "$ci_host" in
             (i686-w64-mingw32)
-                $sudo apt-get -qq -y --no-install-recommends install \
-                    binutils-mingw-w64-i686 \
-                    g++-mingw-w64-i686 \
-                    $wine32 wine \
-                    ${NULL}
+                packages=(
+                    "${packages[@]}"
+                    binutils-mingw-w64-i686
+                    g++-mingw-w64-i686
+                    $wine32 wine
+                )
                 ;;
             (x86_64-w64-mingw32)
-                $sudo apt-get -qq -y --no-install-recommends install \
-                    binutils-mingw-w64-x86-64\
-                    g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 \
-                    $wine64 wine \
-                    ${NULL}
+                packages=(
+                    "${packages[@]}"
+                    binutils-mingw-w64-x86-64
+                    g++-mingw-w64-x86-64
+                    $wine64 wine
+                )
                 ;;
         esac
 
         if [ "$ci_host/$ci_variant/$ci_suite" = "native/production/buster" ]; then
-            $sudo apt-get -qq -y --no-install-recommends install \
-                qttools5-dev-tools qt5-default \
-                ${NULL}
+            packages=(
+                "${packages[@]}"
+                qttools5-dev-tools
+                qt5-default
+            )
         fi
 
-        $sudo apt-get -qq -y --no-install-recommends install \
-            adduser \
-            autoconf-archive \
-            automake \
-            autotools-dev \
-            ccache \
-            cmake \
-            debhelper \
-            dh-autoreconf \
-            dh-exec \
-            docbook-xml \
-            docbook-xsl \
-            doxygen \
-            dpkg-dev \
-            g++ \
-            gcc \
-            gnome-desktop-testing \
-            libapparmor-dev \
-            libaudit-dev \
-            libcap-ng-dev \
-            libexpat-dev \
-            libglib2.0-dev \
-            libselinux1-dev \
-            libsystemd-dev \
-            libx11-dev \
-            sudo \
-            valgrind \
-            wget \
-            xauth \
-            xmlto \
-            xsltproc \
-            xvfb \
-            ${NULL}
+        packages=(
+            "${packages[@]}"
+            adduser
+            autoconf-archive
+            automake
+            autotools-dev
+            ccache
+            cmake
+            debhelper
+            dh-autoreconf
+            dh-exec
+            docbook-xml
+            docbook-xsl
+            doxygen
+            dpkg-dev
+            g++
+            gcc
+            gnome-desktop-testing
+            libapparmor-dev
+            libaudit-dev
+            libcap-ng-dev
+            libexpat-dev
+            libglib2.0-dev
+            libselinux1-dev
+            libsystemd-dev
+            libx11-dev
+            sudo
+            valgrind
+            wget
+            xauth
+            xmlto
+            xsltproc
+            xvfb
+        )
 
-        # Make sure we have a messagebus user, even if the dbus package
-        # isn't installed
-        $sudo adduser --system --quiet --home /nonexistent --no-create-home \
-            --disabled-password --group messagebus
+        case "$ci_suite" in
+            (stretch)
+                # Debian 9 'stretch' didn't have the ducktype package
+                ;;
+
+            (*)
+                # assume Ubuntu 18.04 'bionic', Debian 10 'buster' or newer
+                packages=(
+                    "${packages[@]}"
+                    ducktype yelp-tools
+                )
+                ;;
+        esac
+
+        $sudo apt-get -qq -y --no-install-recommends install "${packages[@]}"
 
         if [ "$ci_in_docker" = yes ]; then
             # Add the user that we will use to do the build inside the
@@ -176,6 +197,7 @@ case "$ci_distro" in
             chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/nopasswd
         fi
 
+        # manual package setup
         case "$ci_suite" in
             (jessie|xenial)
                 # autoconf-archive in Debian 8 and Ubuntu 16.04 is too old,
@@ -184,16 +206,12 @@ case "$ci_distro" in
                 $sudo dpkg -i autoconf-archive_*_all.deb
                 rm autoconf-archive_*_all.deb
                 ;;
-
-            (stretch)
-                # Debian 9 'stretch' didn't have the ducktype package
-                ;;
-
-            (*)
-                # assume Ubuntu 18.04 'bionic', Debian 10 'buster' or newer
-                $sudo apt-get -qq -y --no-install-recommends install ducktype yelp-tools
-                ;;
         esac
+
+        # Make sure we have a messagebus user, even if the dbus package
+        # isn't installed
+        $sudo adduser --system --quiet --home /nonexistent --no-create-home \
+            --disabled-password --group messagebus
         ;;
 
     (*)
@@ -202,4 +220,36 @@ case "$ci_distro" in
         ;;
 esac
 
+if [ "$ci_local_packages" = yes ]; then
+    case "$ci_host" in
+        (*-w64-mingw32)
+            mirror=http://repo.msys2.org/mingw/${ci_host%%-*}
+            dep_prefix=$(pwd)/${ci_host}-prefix
+            install -d "${dep_prefix}"
+            packages=(
+                bzip2-1.0.8-1
+                expat-2.2.9-1
+                gcc-libs-9.3.0-2
+                gettext-0.19.8.1-8
+                glib2-2.64.2-1
+                iconv-1.16-1
+                libffi-3.3-1
+                libiconv-1.16-1
+                libwinpthread-git-8.0.0.5814.9dbf4cc1-1
+                pcre-8.44-1
+                zlib-1.2.11-7
+            )
+            for pkg in "${packages[@]}" ; do
+                wget ${mirror}/mingw-w64-${ci_host%%-*}-${pkg}-any.pkg.tar.xz
+                tar -C ${dep_prefix} --strip-components=1 -xvf mingw-w64-${ci_host%%-*}-${pkg}-any.pkg.tar.xz
+            done
+
+            # limit access rights
+            if [ "$ci_in_docker" = yes ]; then
+                chown -R user "${dep_prefix}"
+            fi
+            ;;
+    esac
+fi
+
 # vim:set sw=4 sts=4 et: