diff --git a/industrial_ci/src/ros.sh b/industrial_ci/src/ros.sh
index a59280c0a..8b65f469d 100644
--- a/industrial_ci/src/ros.sh
+++ b/industrial_ci/src/ros.sh
@@ -96,7 +96,8 @@ function _set_ros_defaults {
         _ros2_defaults "jammy"
         ;;
     "false")
-        unset ROS_DISTRO
+        export BUILDER=${BUILDER:-colcon}
+        export ROS_PYTHON_VERSION=${ROS_PYTHON_VERSION:-3}
         ;;
     *)
         ici_error "ROS_DISTRO '$ROS_DISTRO' is not supported"
diff --git a/industrial_ci/src/workspace.sh b/industrial_ci/src/workspace.sh
index a2d156ef7..f6199be3b 100644
--- a/industrial_ci/src/workspace.sh
+++ b/industrial_ci/src/workspace.sh
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ function ici_init_apt {
         ici_apt_install "${debs_default[@]}"
     fi
 
-    if [ -n "$ROS_DISTRO" ]; then
+    if [ -n "$ROS_DISTRO" ] && [ "$ROS_DISTRO" != false ]; then
         local current_repository_path
         current_repository_path="$(apt-cache policy "ros-$ROS_DISTRO-ros-core" 2> /dev/null | grep -Eo "[^ ]+://[^ ]+")" || true
         ici_set_ros_repository_path "$current_repository_path"
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ function ici_setup_rosdep {
 
     if [ "$ROS_DISTRO" = "indigo" ] || [ "$ROS_DISTRO" = "jade" ]; then
         ici_apt_install "ros-$ROS_DISTRO-roslib"
-    else
+    elif [ "$ROS_DISTRO" != false ]; then
         ici_apt_install "ros-$ROS_DISTRO-ros-environment"
     fi
 
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ function ici_setup_rosdep {
     fi
 
     update_opts=()
-    if [ -z "${ROSDISTRO_INDEX_URL:-}" ]; then
+    if [ -z "${ROSDISTRO_INDEX_URL:-}" ] && [ "$ROS_DISTRO" != false ]; then
         update_opts+=(--rosdistro "$ROS_DISTRO")
     fi
     if [ "$ROS_VERSION_EOL" = true ]; then