diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index a175f70..8fb5555 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 
 image: gcc
 
+variables:
+  GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
+
 build:
   stage: build
   # instead of calling g++ directly you can also use some build toolkit like make