diff --git a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
index 3af5a256..259b9326 100755
--- a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
+++ b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
@@ -28,18 +28,20 @@ npm config set @lirewine:registry ${local_npm_registry_url}
 local_npm_registry_url_fixed=$( echo ${local_npm_registry_url} | sed -e 's/^http[s]\{0,1\}://')
 npm config set -- ${local_npm_registry_url_fixed}:_authToken ${CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}
 # First check if the version of this package we're trying to build already exists in the registry
-package_exists=null
-#package_exists=$( yarn info --json ${package_name}@${package_publish_version} 2>/dev/null | jq -r .data.dist.tarball )
-if [[ ! -z "$package_exists" && "$package_exists" != "null" ]]; then
-    echo "${package_publish_version} of ${package_name} already exists in the registry"
-    if [[ ${CERC_FORCE_REBUILD} == "true" ]]; then
-        # Attempt to unpublish the existing package
-        echo "NOTE: unpublishing existing package version since force rebuild is enabled"
-        npm unpublish --force ${package_name}@${package_publish_version}
-    else
-        echo "skipping build since target version already exists"
-        exit 0
-    fi
+# but this line: "jq -r .data.dist.tarball" fails only in gitea, so skip this block
+if [[ $GITEA_ACTIONS != "true" ]]; then
+package_exists=$( yarn info --json ${package_name}@${package_publish_version} 2>/dev/null | jq -r .data.dist.tarball )
+  if [[ ! -z "$package_exists" && "$package_exists" != "null" ]]; then
+      echo "${package_publish_version} of ${package_name} already exists in the registry"
+      if [[ ${CERC_FORCE_REBUILD} == "true" ]]; then
+          # Attempt to unpublish the existing package
+          echo "NOTE: unpublishing existing package version since force rebuild is enabled"
+          npm unpublish --force ${package_name}@${package_publish_version}
+      else
+          echo "skipping build since target version already exists"
+          exit 0
+      fi
+  fi
 fi
 echo "Build and publish ${package_name} version ${package_publish_version}"
 yarn install