diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml
index ac14ef61753b2d6da1a5d64a8784b1dd3e7798fd..83076d5a00ac1daa11e14e526ea50e2a9e869826 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml
@@ -689,13 +689,12 @@ docker-publish:
     - if: '$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME !~ $PROD_REF'
       when: never
     # exclude if $PUBLISH_ON_PROD disabled
-    - if: '$PUBLISH_ON_PROD == "false" || $PUBLISH_ON_PROD == "no" || $PUBLISH_ON_PROD == ""'
+    - if: '$PUBLISH_ON_PROD != "true"'
       when: never
     # exclude if snapshot is same as release image
     - if: '$DOCKER_SNAPSHOT_IMAGE == $DOCKER_RELEASE_IMAGE'
       when: never
     # if $AUTODEPLOY_TO_PROD: auto
-    - if: $AUTODEPLOY_TO_PROD
+    - if: '$AUTODEPLOY_TO_PROD == "true"'
     # else: manual + blocking
-    - if: $PUBLISH_ON_PROD # this 'if' is useless but only prevents GitLab warning :(
-      when: manual
+    - when: manual