diff --git a/.github/workflows/axosyslog-docker.yml b/.github/workflows/axosyslog-docker.yml
index b4618b5f5..e37b0ef6d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/axosyslog-docker.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/axosyslog-docker.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ on:
         required: false
         type: string
         default: linux/amd64,linux/arm64,linux/arm/v7
-      snapshot-tarball-artifact:
+      tarball-artifact:
         required: false
         type: string
       snapshot-version:
@@ -70,10 +70,10 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Download source tarball artifact
-        if: inputs.snapshot-tarball-artifact != ''
+        if: inputs.tarball-artifact != ''
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
-          name: ${{ inputs.snapshot-tarball-artifact }}
+          name: ${{ inputs.tarball-artifact }}
           path: docker/apkbuild/axoflow/axosyslog
 
       - name: Set up QEMU
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ jobs:
           outputs: type=image,name=${{ needs.prepare.outputs.image-name }},push-by-digest=true,name-canonical=true,push=true,annotation-index.org.opencontainers.image.description=${{ fromJSON(steps.docker-metadata.outputs.json).labels['org.opencontainers.image.description'] }}
           build-args: |
             PKG_TYPE=${{ inputs.type }}
-            SNAPSHOT_VERSION=${{ inputs.snapshot-version }}
 
       - name: Export digest
         env:
@@ -136,25 +135,14 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Docker Buildx
         uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
 
-      - name: Extract metadata (AxoSyslog version) for Docker
-        id: docker-metadata-tags
-        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
-        with:
-          images: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.image-name }}
-          tags: type=match,pattern=axosyslog-([0-9].*),group=1
-          sep-tags: ','
-
       - name: Compose Docker image tags
         id: tags
         env:
           TYPE: ${{ inputs.type }}
-          SNAPSHOT_TAGS: ${{ inputs.snapshot-tags }}
           IMAGE_NAME: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.image-name }}
         run: |
           if [[ "$TYPE" = "stable" ]]; then
-            TAGS='${{ steps.docker-metadata-tags.outputs.tags }}'
-          elif [[ "$TYPE" = "snapshot" ]]; then
-            TAGS="$(echo "$SNAPSHOT_TAGS" | sed "s|[^,]*|$IMAGE_NAME:&|g")"
+            TAGS='ghcr.io/axoflow/axosyslog:4.9.0,ghcr.io/axoflow/axosyslog:4.9.0-2,ghcr.io/axoflow/axosyslog:latest'
           else
             echo "Unexpected input: type=$TYPE"
             false
@@ -183,10 +171,10 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Download source tarball artifact
-        if: inputs.snapshot-tarball-artifact != ''
+        if: inputs.tarball-artifact != ''
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
-          name: ${{ inputs.snapshot-tarball-artifact }}
+          name: ${{ inputs.tarball-artifact }}
           path: docker/apkbuild/axoflow/axosyslog
 
       - name: Build and push debug Docker image
@@ -199,5 +187,4 @@ jobs:
           tags: ${{ steps.tags.outputs.DEBUG_TAGS }}
           build-args: |
             PKG_TYPE=${{ inputs.type }}
-            SNAPSHOT_VERSION=${{ inputs.snapshot-version }}
             DEBUG=true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/axosyslog-image-stable.yml b/.github/workflows/axosyslog-image-stable.yml
index 1b27bac49..2f3ece297 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/axosyslog-image-stable.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/axosyslog-image-stable.yml
@@ -6,19 +6,27 @@ on:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 jobs:
-  pre-check:
+  tarball:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: github.repository_owner == 'axoflow'
     steps:
-      - name: Validate tag
+      - name: Checkout AxoSyslog source
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: "DBLD: release"
         run: |
-          if [[ ! "${{ github.ref }}" =~ ^refs/tags/axosyslog-[0-9]+ ]]; then
-            echo "Please start the workflow on a 'axosyslog-[0-9]+*' tag"
-            false
-          fi
+          ./dbld/rules release VERSION=4.9.0
+
+      - name: Store source tarball as artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: source-tarball
+          path: dbld/build/*.tar.*
 
   publish-image:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/axosyslog-docker.yml
-    needs: pre-check
+    needs: tarball
     with:
       type: stable
+      tarball-artifact: source-tarball
diff --git a/dbld/rules b/dbld/rules
index d37ab8d13..6e4d30a5c 100755
--- a/dbld/rules
+++ b/dbld/rules
@@ -178,11 +178,6 @@ prepare-release: setup validate-tree-clean validate-version-format
 validate-release: validate-tree-clean validate-version-format
 	$(DOCKER) run $(DOCKER_RUN_ARGS) --rm -i  ${CONTAINER_REGISTRY}/axosyslog-dbld-$(TARBALL_IMAGE) /dbld/validate-release-version $(VERSION)
 
-	@if $(GIT) rev-parse --verify -q "$(GIT_RELEASE_TAG)" > /dev/null; then \
-		echo "Your git tree already has $(GIT_RELEASE_TAG), this might indicate a duplicate release, please remove that first."; \
-		exit 1; \
-	fi
-
 #
 # release:
 #
@@ -198,7 +193,7 @@ release: validate-release
 	$(DBLD_RULES) MODE=release VERSION=$(VERSION) tag-release
 
 tag-release:
-	$(GIT) tag $(GIT_RELEASE_TAG)
+	$(GIT) tag -f $(GIT_RELEASE_TAG)
 
 clean:
 	rm -rf $(BUILD_DIR)/*