diff --git a/BUILD/mdbci/copy_repos.sh b/BUILD/mdbci/copy_repos.sh
index 6175adf3f..71c3483ec 100755
--- a/BUILD/mdbci/copy_repos.sh
+++ b/BUILD/mdbci/copy_repos.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ if [ "$box_type" == "RPM" ] ; then
         # and to run install and upgrade tests
         # with thre real RHEL, but we use CentOS packages for production
         if [[ "$platform" != "rhel" || ( "$platform" == "rhel"  && "$platform_version" == "8" ) ]]; then
+                if [[ "$platform" == "rhel"  && "$platform_version" == "8" ]]; then
+                        export platform="centos"
+                fi
                 export arch=`ssh $sshopt "arch"`
                 . ${script_dir}/generate_build_info_path.sh