diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 146320e3178e69da75a54aa4e2b828ed42f5fdbf..d0ac0d8fbf39caad48f6e016f9268dc2aeebb675 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ variables:
       For instance use `*` to process all updates, `dash` to only process `pkg/dash`.
       Leave it empty to not trigger any update.
     value: ""
+  SKIP_OBS:
+    description: |
+      The OBS 2.10 update made things sensibly slower, causing timeouts in the
+      packaging-data-fetch-obs job. Disable it for now.
+      See https://phabricator.apertis.org/T8880
+    value: "yes"
+
 
 stages:
   - lint
@@ -214,6 +221,8 @@ packaging-data-fetch-obs:
     paths:
       - packaging-data-obs.yaml
   rules:
+    - if: $SKIP_OBS == yes
+      when: never
     - if: $TRIGGER_FROM_JOB
       when: never
     - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "merge_request_event"
@@ -263,6 +272,8 @@ packaging-check-invariants:
         python3-gitlab
         python3-yaml
   script:
+    - |
+      test "$SKIP_OBS" = yes && touch packaging-data-obs.yaml
     - ./bin/yaml-merge
         --input packaging-data-downstream.yaml
         --input packaging-data-sources-upstream.yaml
diff --git a/bin/packaging-check-invariants b/bin/packaging-check-invariants
index 2ff49e0a16334291d85bb12dce27de3be66656f9..a19fbccbe09b82f5ed66872da348f37d2b055f9c 100755
--- a/bin/packaging-check-invariants
+++ b/bin/packaging-check-invariants
@@ -558,6 +558,10 @@ class Error(Exception):
     pass
 
 
+def hack_skip_obs():
+    return os.environ.get("SKIP_OBS") != "yes":
+
+
 def is_stable_channel(channel):
     if channel.endswith("pre"):
         return False
@@ -906,7 +910,7 @@ class InvariantChecker:
             logging.debug(
                 f"Checking if {package.name} branch {branch}/{source.component} is in {obsproject}"
             )
-            if obsproject not in package.get("obs", {}):
+            if obsproject not in package.get("obs", {}) and not hack_skip_obs():
                 self.error(
                     package.name,
                     Report.OBS_PACKAGE_MISSING_BUT_ON_APT,