diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 295c783b3f630ff8bc0fc5831a84b30767d8af0d..dfb0cf71ed2fd0964bcc2954821d7d54499c650e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -68,9 +68,13 @@ compile GekkoFS:
       -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${INSTALL_PATH}
       ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}
     - make -j$(nproc) install
+    # the following commands are intended to reduce artifact size
+    - rm -rf ${BUILD_PATH}/_deps
+    - find ${BUILD_PATH} -name "*.o" -delete
   artifacts:
     paths:
-     - ${INSTALL_PATH}
+      - ${BUILD_PATH}
+      - ${INSTALL_PATH}
 
 compile tests:
   stage: build
@@ -98,6 +102,7 @@ integration tests:
 unit:
   stage: test
   script:
+    - cd ${BUILD_PATH}
     - ctest -j $(nproc) -L unit::all
   artifacts:
     when: on_failure
diff --git a/tests/unit/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/unit/CMakeLists.txt
index a5568fb528f2225547677d58645a936af57eacd3..29f39293124a94f2ad9195fc133fc5c23dd4605d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/unit/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,6 +53,6 @@ catch_discover_tests(tests
 
 if(GKFS_INSTALL_TESTS)
     install(TARGETS tests
-        DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}
+      DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_DATAROOTDIR}/gkfs/tests/unit
     )
 endif()