diff --git a/circleci/images/exttester/Dockerfile b/circleci/images/exttester/Dockerfile
index aa31c37..6cb900f 100644
--- a/circleci/images/exttester/Dockerfile
+++ b/circleci/images/exttester/Dockerfile
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt purge -y \
 # debug
 ls -la /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpq.so*
 
-# remove the libpq.so* files if any
-rm /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpq.so* | true
+# remove libpq.so and the symlinkes to it, if any
+[ -f /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpq.so* ] && rm /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpq.so*
 
 # debug
 ls -la /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpq.so*