diff --git a/.github/workflows/cargo_bazel_release.yaml b/.github/workflows/cargo_bazel_release.yaml
index 113b97ba63..0b8771de01 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cargo_bazel_release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cargo_bazel_release.yaml
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ defaults:
 
 jobs:
   validation:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       # TODO: Unfortunately it's not obvious how to restrict `workflow_dispatch` to a particular branch
       # so this step ensures releases are always done off of `main`.
       - name: Ensure branch is 'main'
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ jobs:
           fi
   builds:
     needs: validation
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Install rust toolchains for host
         run: |
           # Detect the current version of rust
diff --git a/.github/workflows/formatting.yaml b/.github/workflows/formatting.yaml
index ed7b8b003a..39ab45b10b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/formatting.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/formatting.yaml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
   code-format-checks:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Buildifier
         run: |
           wget "https://github.com/bazelbuild/buildtools/releases/download/v${BUILDIFIER_VERSION}/buildifier-linux-amd64" -O buildifier
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index 6b78d33494..af2ba23079 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 name: Release
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
+  merge_group:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - main
+    paths:
+      - version.bzl
+      - .github/workflows/release.yaml
   push:
     branches:
       - main
@@ -17,22 +24,11 @@ env:
 
 jobs:
   validation:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      # TODO: Unfortunately it's not obvious how to restrict `workflow_dispatch` to a particular branch
-      # so this step ensures releases are always done off of `main`.
-      - name: Ensure branch is 'main'
-        run: |
-          git fetch origin &> /dev/null
-          branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
-          if [[ "${branch}" != "main" ]]; then
-            echo "The release branch must be main. Got '${branch}'' instead." >&2
-            exit 1
-          else
-            echo "Branch is '${branch}'"
-          fi
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Ensure release does not already exist
+        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/heads/main') == false
         run: |
           git fetch origin &> /dev/null
           version="$(grep 'VERSION =' ${{ github.workspace }}/version.bzl | sed 's/VERSION = "//' | sed 's/"//')"
@@ -53,7 +49,7 @@ jobs:
           - os: macOS-13
             env:
               TARGET: "aarch64-apple-darwin"
-          - os: ubuntu-20.04
+          - os: ubuntu-22.04
             env:
               TARGET: "aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu"
           - os: windows-2022
@@ -62,20 +58,20 @@ jobs:
           - os: macOS-13
             env:
               TARGET: "x86_64-apple-darwin"
-          - os: ubuntu-20.04
+          - os: ubuntu-22.04
             env:
               TARGET: "x86_64-pc-windows-gnu"
           - os: windows-2022
             env:
               TARGET: "x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"
-          - os: ubuntu-20.04
+          - os: ubuntu-22.04
             env:
               TARGET: "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
-          - os: ubuntu-20.04
+          - os: ubuntu-22.04
             env:
               TARGET: "x86_64-unknown-linux-musl"
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Install rust toolchains for host
         run: |
           # Detect the current version of rust
@@ -99,6 +95,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Windows Bazelrc
         run: |
           echo "startup --output_user_root=C:/tmp" > ./user.bazelrc
+          echo "startup --windows_enable_symlinks" > ./user.bazelrc
+          echo "build --enable_runfiles" > ./user.bazelrc
         if: startswith(matrix.os, 'Windows')
       - name: Build cargo-bazel binaries
         run: |
@@ -117,10 +115,11 @@ jobs:
           path: ${{ github.workspace }}/crate_universe/target/artifacts/${{ matrix.env.TARGET }}
           if-no-files-found: error
   release:
+    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/heads/main')
     needs: builds
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
           path: ${{ github.workspace }}/crate_universe/target/artifacts
diff --git a/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/BUILD.bazel b/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/BUILD.bazel
index b4ccd82407..18daac0fe0 100644
--- a/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/BUILD.bazel
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ rust_binary(
     edition = "2021",
     proc_macro_deps = all_crate_deps(proc_macro = True),
     rustc_env = {
-        "CARGO": "$(rootpath @rules_rust//rust/toolchain:current_cargo_files)",
-        "CROSS_BIN": "$(rootpath :cross)",
-        "CROSS_CONFIG": "$(rootpath :Cross.toml)",
+        "CARGO": "$(rlocationpath @rules_rust//rust/toolchain:current_cargo_files)",
+        "CROSS_BIN": "$(rlocationpath :cross)",
+        "CROSS_CONFIG_RLOCATION": "$(rlocationpath :Cross.toml)",
     },
-    deps = all_crate_deps(normal = True),
+    deps = all_crate_deps(normal = True) + ["@rules_rust//rust/runfiles"],
 )
 
 filegroup(
diff --git a/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/src/main.rs b/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/src/main.rs
index 8d426f9862..9ddd7c5301 100644
--- a/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/src/main.rs
+++ b/crate_universe/tools/cross_installer/src/main.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 //! A utility for cross compiling binaries using Cross
 
+use runfiles::{rlocation, Runfiles};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::{self, Command};
 use std::{env, fs};
@@ -22,7 +23,13 @@ struct Options {
 fn prepare_workspace(workspace_root: &Path) {
     // Unfortunately, cross runs into issues when cross compiling incrementally.
     // To avoid this, the workspace must be cleaned
-    let cargo = env::current_dir().unwrap().join(env!("CARGO"));
+    let r = Runfiles::create().unwrap();
+    let cargo = rlocation!(r, env!("CARGO")).unwrap();
+
+    if !cargo.exists() {
+        panic!("Cargo binary not found at {}", cargo.display());
+    }
+
     Command::new(cargo)
         .current_dir(workspace_root)
         .arg("clean")
@@ -32,7 +39,19 @@ fn prepare_workspace(workspace_root: &Path) {
 
 /// Execute a build for the provided platform
 fn execute_cross(working_dir: &Path, target_triple: &str) {
-    let cross = env::current_dir().unwrap().join(env!("CROSS_BIN"));
+    let r = Runfiles::create().unwrap();
+    let cross = rlocation!(r, env!("CROSS_BIN")).unwrap();
+
+    if !cross.exists() {
+        panic!("Cross binary not found at {}", cross.display());
+    }
+
+    let cross_config = rlocation!(r, env!("CROSS_CONFIG_RLOCATION")).unwrap();
+
+    if !cross_config.exists() {
+        panic!("Cross config not found at {}", cross_config.display());
+    }
+
     let status = Command::new(cross)
         .current_dir(working_dir)
         .arg("build")
@@ -43,6 +62,7 @@ fn execute_cross(working_dir: &Path, target_triple: &str) {
         .arg(format!("--target={target_triple}"))
         // https://github.com/cross-rs/cross/issues/1447
         .env("CROSS_NO_WARNINGS", "0")
+        .env("CROSS_CONFIG", cross_config)
         .status()
         .unwrap();