diff --git a/nixos/platform/collect-garbage-userscan.exclude b/nixos/platform/collect-garbage-userscan.exclude
index af87e724b..d92e14edf 100644
--- a/nixos/platform/collect-garbage-userscan.exclude
+++ b/nixos/platform/collect-garbage-userscan.exclude
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 **/journal/
 **/lucene/
 **/solr/data/
+**/nixpkgs-*/
 # Files in sub-directories to ignore (anywhere in the home directory)
 **/.local/share/fish/fish_history
 **/diagnostic.data/metrics.*
diff --git a/nixos/roles/gitlab.nix b/nixos/roles/gitlab.nix
index 57eca1b0c..29d42a458 100644
--- a/nixos/roles/gitlab.nix
+++ b/nixos/roles/gitlab.nix
@@ -218,6 +218,12 @@ in
     # Needed for Git via SSH.
     users.users.gitlab.extraGroups = [ "login" ];
 
+    # ensure that gitlab is restarted again, when stopped due to a dependency
+    # (e.g. postgresql) being stopped and started again
+    systemd.services.gitlab = {
+      wantedBy = lib.mkForce [];
+      requiredBy = [ "gitlab.target" ];
+    };
   })
 
   (lib.mkIf (cfg.enable && cfg.extraSecrets != []) {