diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 804dcfc..c410755 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 name: "tagged-release"
 
 on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
   push:
     tags:
       - "v*.*.*"
@@ -28,29 +29,45 @@ jobs:
           path: ldb
           fetch-depth: 0
         
-      - name: Build & Install ldb
-        run: cd ldb && git checkout $(git describe --tags $(git rev-list --tags --max-count=1)) && make all && sudo make install
+      - name: Checkout latest ldb release
+        run: cd ldb && git checkout $(git describe --tags $(git rev-list --tags --max-count=1))
 
-      - name: Build engine
+      # Built on EL8 (glibc 2.28) so the same binary, .deb and .rpm run on
+      # Debian 11+, Ubuntu 22.04+, RHEL/Rocky/Alma 8+ and Fedora. ldb is
+      # installed in the container because the engine links against libldb.
+      - name: Build ldb & engine (EL8, glibc 2.28 baseline)
+        run: |
+          docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/src" -w /src -e SUDO_USER=root rockylinux:8 bash -c '
+            dnf install -y -q gcc make bc findutils zlib-devel libgcrypt-devel &&
+            (cd ldb && make all && make install) && ldconfig && make all'
+          sudo chown -R "$(id -u):$(id -g)" .
+
+      - name: Check glibc baseline
+        run: |
+          max=$(objdump -T scanoss | grep -o 'GLIBC_[0-9.]*' | sed 's/GLIBC_//' | sort -uV | tail -1)
+          echo "scanoss requires glibc $max"
+          [ "$(printf '%s\n' "$max" 2.28 | sort -V | tail -1)" = "2.28" ] || { echo "scanoss requires glibc > 2.28"; exit 1; }
+
+      - name: Collect artifacts
         run: |
-          make all
           mkdir -p ./artifacts
           cp scanoss ./artifacts/scanoss
           cp LICENSES/GPL-2.0-only.txt ./artifacts/LICENSE
           echo "Produced artifact at ${PWD}/artifacts/scanoss"
 
       - name: 'Tar files'
-        run: tar czvf scanoss-engine-${{ github.ref_name }}-linux-amd64.tar.gz -C ./artifacts/ .
+        run: tar czvf "scanoss-engine-${GITHUB_REF_NAME//\//-}-linux-amd64.tar.gz" -C ./artifacts/ .
 
       - name: Prepare deb package
         id: build_deb
+        # package.sh directly: make prepare_*_package would rebuild on the runner
         run: |
-          make prepare_deb_package
+          ./package.sh deb "$(./version.sh)"
           echo "debpkg_file_name=$(ls *.deb)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
       - name: Prepare rpm package
         run: |
-          make prepare_rpm_package
+          ./package.sh rpm "$(./version.sh)"
           echo "rpmpkg_file_name=$(ls dist/rpm/RPMS/x86_64/*.rpm)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
       - name: Show the artifacts
@@ -61,6 +78,18 @@ jobs:
           ls -al "${PWD}"
           ls -al "${PWD}/dist/rpm/RPMS/x86_64/"
       
+      # Manual runs (workflow_dispatch) don't create a release: keep the packages
+      # as workflow artifacts so they can be tested
+      - name: Upload packages
+        if: github.ref_type != 'tag'
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: packages
+          path: |
+            ./*.tar.gz
+            ./*.deb
+            ./dist/rpm/RPMS/x86_64/*.rpm
+
       - name: Create Draft Release ${{ github.ref_type }} - ${{ github.ref_name }}
         if: github.ref_type == 'tag'
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
diff --git a/scripts/debpkg/DEBIAN/control b/scripts/debpkg/DEBIAN/control
index 17cc3ef..b6ca7ca 100644
--- a/scripts/debpkg/DEBIAN/control
+++ b/scripts/debpkg/DEBIAN/control
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ Package: scanoss
 Version: ENGINE_VERSION
 Maintainer: SCANOSS <support@scanoss.com>
 Architecture: amd64
-Depends: libgcrypt20 (>= 1.9.0), libc6 (>= 2.4), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
+Depends: libgcrypt20 (>= 1.8.0), libc6 (>= 2.4), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
 Description: SCANOSS Engine
   SCANOSS is an open, configurable OSS engine that was built specifically for developers, empowering them to confidently produce compliant code from the moment they begin writing, while delivering greater license and usage visibility for the broader DevOps team and supply chain partners.
 License: GPL-2+