diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 40ba583d2..b4d267c1e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ on:
 jobs:
   # Run 'cargo dist plan' (or host) to determine what tasks we need to do
   plan:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    runs-on: "ubuntu-20.04"
     outputs:
       val: ${{ steps.plan.outputs.manifest }}
       tag: ${{ (inputs.tag != 'dry-run' && inputs.tag) || '' }}
@@ -65,7 +65,12 @@ jobs:
         # we specify bash to get pipefail; it guards against the `curl` command
         # failing. otherwise `sh` won't catch that `curl` returned non-0
         shell: bash
-        run: "curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/axodotdev/cargo-dist/releases/download/v0.14.0/cargo-dist-installer.sh | sh"
+        run: "curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/axodotdev/cargo-dist/releases/download/v0.17.0/cargo-dist-installer.sh | sh"
+      - name: Cache cargo-dist
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: cargo-dist-cache
+          path: ~/.cargo/bin/cargo-dist
       # sure would be cool if github gave us proper conditionals...
       # so here's a doubly-nested ternary-via-truthiness to try to provide the best possible
       # functionality based on whether this is a pull_request, and whether it's from a fork.
@@ -118,9 +123,12 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
-      - name: Install cargo-dist
-        shell: bash
-        run: "curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/axodotdev/cargo-dist/releases/download/v0.14.0/cargo-dist-installer.sh | sh"
+      - name: Install cached cargo-dist
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: cargo-dist-cache
+          path: ~/.cargo/bin/
+      - run: chmod +x ~/.cargo/bin/cargo-dist
       # Get all the local artifacts for the global tasks to use (for e.g. checksums)
       - name: Fetch local artifacts
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
@@ -165,8 +173,12 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
-      - name: Install cargo-dist
-        run: "curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/axodotdev/cargo-dist/releases/download/v0.14.0/cargo-dist-installer.sh | sh"
+      - name: Install cached cargo-dist
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: cargo-dist-cache
+          path: ~/.cargo/bin/
+      - run: chmod +x ~/.cargo/bin/cargo-dist
       # Fetch artifacts from scratch-storage
       - name: Fetch artifacts
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
@@ -220,6 +232,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
+      # Create a GitHub Release while uploading all files to it
       - name: "Download GitHub Artifacts"
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
@@ -231,10 +244,13 @@ jobs:
           # Remove the granular manifests
           rm -f artifacts/*-dist-manifest.json
       - name: Create GitHub Release
-        uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1
-        with:
-          tag: ${{ needs.plan.outputs.tag }}
-          name: ${{ fromJson(needs.host.outputs.val).announcement_title }}
-          body: ${{ fromJson(needs.host.outputs.val).announcement_github_body }}
-          prerelease: ${{ fromJson(needs.host.outputs.val).announcement_is_prerelease }}
-          artifacts: "artifacts/*"
+        env:
+          PRERELEASE_FLAG: "${{ fromJson(needs.host.outputs.val).announcement_is_prerelease && '--prerelease' || '' }}"
+          ANNOUNCEMENT_TITLE: "${{ fromJson(needs.host.outputs.val).announcement_title }}"
+          ANNOUNCEMENT_BODY: "${{ fromJson(needs.host.outputs.val).announcement_github_body }}"
+          RELEASE_COMMIT: "${{ github.sha }}"
+        run: |
+          # Write and read notes from a file to avoid quoting breaking things
+          echo "$ANNOUNCEMENT_BODY" > $RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt
+
+          gh release create "${{ needs.plan.outputs.tag }}" --target "$RELEASE_COMMIT" $PRERELEASE_FLAG --title "$ANNOUNCEMENT_TITLE" --notes-file "$RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt" artifacts/*
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 701b7e2df..a8fbb2452 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ lto = "thin"
 # Config for 'cargo dist'
 [workspace.metadata.dist]
 # The preferred cargo-dist version to use in CI (Cargo.toml SemVer syntax)
-cargo-dist-version = "0.14.0"
+cargo-dist-version = "0.17.0"
 # CI backends to support
 ci = ["github"]
 # The installers to generate for each app
@@ -244,6 +244,8 @@ create-release = true
 pr-run-mode = "skip"
 # Whether CI should trigger releases with dispatches instead of tag pushes
 dispatch-releases = true
+# The stage during which the Github Release should be created
+github-release = "announce"
 # Whether CI should include auto-generated code to build local artifacts
 build-local-artifacts = false
 # Local artifacts jobs to run in CI