diff --git a/.ci/linux-prepare.sh b/.ci/linux-prepare.sh
index 5f8a1db6a..51e5a7e7d 100755
--- a/.ci/linux-prepare.sh
+++ b/.ci/linux-prepare.sh
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ fi
 #
 # Disabling sqlite support because sindex build fails and we don't
 # really need this utility being installed.
-git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/devel/sparse/sparse.git
-cd sparse
-make -j4 HAVE_SQLITE= install
-cd ..
+if test -d sparse; then
+    pushd sparse
+    make -j4 HAVE_SQLITE= install
+    popd
+fi
 
 # Installing wheel separately because it may be needed to build some
 # of the packages during dependency backtracking and pip >= 22.0 will
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
index d90b9273a..cea15fbb5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
@@ -306,6 +306,13 @@ jobs:
       if:   matrix.m32 != ''
       run:  sudo apt install -y gcc-multilib
 
+    - name: checkout sparse
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      # Official mirror of the git.kernel.org/pub/scm/devel/sparse/sparse.git.
+      with:
+        repository: lucvoo/sparse
+        path: sparse
+
     - name: prepare
       run:  ./.ci/linux-prepare.sh