diff --git a/testing/gitlab_test.sh b/testing/gitlab_test.sh
index b7d3dc9b2eeceae6b3e5f6a818e7412e1139c1c4..4ae1c23861fd51f05f3f3405f51a56108c647682 100755
--- a/testing/gitlab_test.sh
+++ b/testing/gitlab_test.sh
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ printf $sftp_users_emg | docker config create sftp_users_emg -
 docker stack deploy -c ../docker-compose.emg.yml -c ../docker-compose.emg.dev.yml emg-pvs
 
 # installing the requirments
-apk update && apk add bash postgresql-dev gcc g++ python3-dev musl-dev py-pip libffi-dev openssl-dev make gdal gdal-dev
+apk update && apk add bash postgresql-dev gcc g++ python3 python3-dev musl-dev py-pip libffi-dev openssl-dev make gdal gdal-dev
 pip3 install -r requirements.txt
 
-python preprocessor_test.py
+python3 preprocessor_test.py
 ./docker-stack-wait.sh -n renderer -n registrar -n preprocessor -n ingestor -n sftp emg-pvs
 
 docker service ls
diff --git a/testing/preprocessor_test.py b/testing/preprocessor_test.py
index 45782accdaed9b7758486d32c0bb1053b98071aa..56f8ce77be5bf2640de8c245a992c6bda6f710eb 100644
--- a/testing/preprocessor_test.py
+++ b/testing/preprocessor_test.py
@@ -1 +1,7 @@
-from osgeo import gdal
\ No newline at end of file
+import sys
+from osgeo import gdal
+
+version_num = int(gdal.VersionInfo('VERSION_NUM'))
+print(version_num)
+if version_num < 1100000:
+    sys.exit('ERROR: Python bindings of GDAL 1.10 or later required')
\ No newline at end of file