diff --git a/.git-ci/gitlab-iem.yml b/.git-ci/gitlab-iem.yml
index b42abee0c3d47dfbdfd29c00a97175a025fb7224..1dc5a608eb9877fdd0d6792438936a10ccb51eb2 100644
--- a/.git-ci/gitlab-iem.yml
+++ b/.git-ci/gitlab-iem.yml
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ variables:
     - rm -f Pd.zip
     - rm -f _pd/bin/msvcr*.dll
     - export PD="_pd/bin/pd.com"
-    - pacman --noconfirm -S $(cat .git-ci/msys2.pacman  | sed -e 's|#.*||' -e "s|@MINGW@|${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-|")
+    - pacman --noconfirm -S --needed $(cat .git-ci/msys2.pacman  | sed -e 's|#.*||' -e "s|@MINGW@|${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-|")
     - date
     - g++ -v
   script:
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ variables:
     - rm -f Pd.zip
     - rm -f _pd/bin/msvcr*.dll
     - export PD="_pd/bin/pd.com"
-    - pacman --noconfirm -S $(cat .git-ci/msys2.pacman  | sed -e 's|#.*||' -e "s|@MINGW@|${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-|")
+    - pacman --noconfirm -S --needed $(cat .git-ci/msys2.pacman  | sed -e 's|#.*||' -e "s|@MINGW@|${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-|")
     - date
     - g++ -v
   script:
diff --git a/.git-ci/msys2.pacman b/.git-ci/msys2.pacman
index a36c1703fd33f321c347cf7c6d4a17247b37b15f..f9941d62d1e9d56e8167678a9694745d87b4c550 100644
--- a/.git-ci/msys2.pacman
+++ b/.git-ci/msys2.pacman
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+# basic building infrastructure
+@MINGW@gcc
+@MINGW@libtool
+autotools
+automake
+make
+@MINGW@pkg-config
+
 # model loading
 @MINGW@assimp