diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index e61fdf8..c494003 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@ kind: pipeline
 name: default
 
 steps:
+  - name: fetch git submodules
+    image: alpine/git
+    commands:
+      - git submodule init
+      - git submodule update --recursive --remote
+
   - name: check documentation build
     image: rust:1.49-slim-buster
     commands:
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 05620a9..8ce76e4 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-git submodule init
-git submodule foreach git pull
-git submodule update --recursive --remote
-ls -la lemmy
-
 # generate config docs
 pushd lemmy
 mkdir -p ../generated