diff --git a/.gitlab/CI/publish.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab/CI/publish.gitlab-ci.yml
index ee010941d0..116313bbff 100644
--- a/.gitlab/CI/publish.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/CI/publish.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ docker:
     - export container=docker
     - echo "{\"auths\":{\"$CI_REGISTRY\":{\"username\":\"$CI_REGISTRY_USER\",\"password\":\"$CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD\"}}}" > /kaniko/.docker/config.json
     - |
-      source "$CI_PROJECT_DIR/.gitlab/scripts/util.sh"
-      publishdockertag PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG
+      source "$CI_PROJECT_DIR/.gitlab/scripts/util.sh";
+      publishdockertag;
       if [ "${PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG}"  != "" ]; then
         /kaniko/executor --context $CI_PROJECT_DIR --dockerfile $CI_PROJECT_DIR/server-cli/Dockerfile --destination "${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/server-cli:${PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG}"
       fi
diff --git a/.gitlab/scripts/util.sh b/.gitlab/scripts/util.sh
index eed00b9b42..46eb227790 100755
--- a/.gitlab/scripts/util.sh
+++ b/.gitlab/scripts/util.sh
@@ -6,24 +6,23 @@
 ### master => "master"
 ### else => ""
 publishdockertag () {
-# this stores the result in a variable defined by the caller
-local -n VAR=$1
-VAR="";
+# this stores the result in PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG
+export PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG="";
 if [[ "${CI_COMMIT_TAG}" =~ ${TAG_REGEX} ]]; then
-  VAR="${CI_COMMIT_TAG}";
+  export PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG="${CI_COMMIT_TAG}";
   return 0;
 fi
 if [[ -z "${SCHEDULE_CADENCE}" && ${CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE} == "schedule" ]]; then
   # sanitize check
   if [[ "${SCHEDULE_CADENCE}" =~ ${TAG_REGEX} ]]; then
-    VAR="invalid_cadence";
+    export PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG="invalid_cadence";
   else
-    VAR="${SCHEDULE_CADENCE}";
+    export PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG="${SCHEDULE_CADENCE}";
   fi
   return 0;
 fi
 if [[ ${CI_COMMIT_BRANCH} == ${CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH} ]]; then
-  VAR="master";
+  export PUBLISH_DOCKER_TAG="master";
   return 0;
 fi
 }
\ No newline at end of file