diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 556404f7cec54f10f22ea7b247700f29f7e05586..95898713abcd621d92ecf69003080faba348867b 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ variables:
          -H ${FAKEHOME}:/home/$(id -un)
          --bind ${CI_DATA_LT}/buildcache:${MOUNT_POINT}/buildcache
          --bind ${CI_DATA_LT}/spack-mirror:${MOUNT_POINT}/spack-mirror
+         --bind /ssoft/spack/external:${MOUNT_POINT}/external
          --bind ${CI_DATA_LT}/squashfs-cache/:/squashfs-cache
          --bind ${CI_DATA_ST}/overlayfs:/overlayfs
          --bind ${CI_DATA_ST}/deconcretize:/deconcretize
diff --git a/ci/update_squashfs.sh b/ci/update_squashfs.sh
index b9ae10f2948d9a9e9e1cdef503da3464e64f9822..d722287547083a9c4300e844a146c5c4b81d8727 100755
--- a/ci/update_squashfs.sh
+++ b/ci/update_squashfs.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ jq -Mr '
   | .[]
 ' ${STACK_CONFIG} > excludes.list
 echo buildcache >> excludes.list
+echo external >> excludes.list
 
 cd /squashfs-cache