diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index 54274beb8b9..fcae66867e3 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-# Code owners file.
-# This file controls who is tagged for review for any given pull request.
+#
+# Learn about membership in OpenTelemetry community:
+#  https://github.com/open-telemetry/community/blob/main/guides/contributor/membership.md
+#
 
- # For anything not explicitly taken by someone else:
 * @open-telemetry/java-approvers
diff --git a/.github/config/lychee.toml b/.github/config/lychee.toml
index ce81581c300..0ce969b0fcd 100644
--- a/.github/config/lychee.toml
+++ b/.github/config/lychee.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Lychee configuration file
+# See https://lychee.cli.rs/config/
+
 timeout = 30
 retry_wait_time = 5
 max_retries = 6
@@ -8,11 +11,11 @@ include_fragments = true
 
 remap = [
   # workaround for https://github.com/lycheeverse/lychee/issues/1729
-  'https://github.com/(.*?)/(.*?)/blob/(.*?)/(.*#.*)$ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/$1/$2/$3/$4',
+  "https://github.com/(.*?)/(.*?)/blob/(.*?)/(.*#.*)$ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/$1/$2/$3/$4",
 ]
 
 # excluding links to pull requests and issues is done for performance
 exclude = [
-  '^https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/(issues|pull)/\d+$',
-  '^https://www.javadoc.io/badge/(.*?)/(.*?).svg$', # returns 522
+  "^https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/(issues|pull)/\\d+$",
+  "^https://www.javadoc.io/badge/(.*?)/(.*?).svg$", # returns 522
 ]
diff --git a/.github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh b/.github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
rename to .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/backport.yml b/.github/workflows/backport.yml
index 702f7ecab41..70103166b73 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backport.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backport.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
 
       - name: Use CLA approved github bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
+        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
 
       - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67018539274d69449ef7c02e8e71183d1719ab42 # v2.1.4
         id: otelbot-token
diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml b/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml
index a95613ccdd7..80788fa31f5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
           java -jar libs/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-*-jmh.jar -rf json SpanBenchmark SpanPipelineBenchmark ExporterBenchmark
 
       - name: Use CLA approved github bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
+        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
 
       - name: Store benchmark results
         uses: benchmark-action/github-action-benchmark@4bdcce38c94cec68da58d012ac24b7b1155efe8b # v1.20.7
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 214d1ea7365..f6643e15f2e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ jobs:
   markdown-link-check:
     # release branches are excluded to avoid unnecessary maintenance
     if: ${{ !startsWith(github.ref_name, 'release/') }}
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-markdown-link-check.yml
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-link-check.yml
 
   misspell-check:
     # release branches are excluded to avoid unnecessary maintenance
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gradle-wrapper-validation.yml b/.github/workflows/gradle-wrapper-validation.yml
index 850fc56e8b9..6069c908264 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gradle-wrapper-validation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gradle-wrapper-validation.yml
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
 
+      # this needs to be in its own workflow in order to make OSSF scorecard happy
       - uses: gradle/actions/wrapper-validation@4d9f0ba0025fe599b4ebab900eb7f3a1d93ef4c2 # v5.0.0
diff --git a/.github/workflows/issue-management-feedback-label.yml b/.github/workflows/issue-management-feedback-label.yml
index 15dca384519..49db5efb55d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/issue-management-feedback-label.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/issue-management-feedback-label.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Issue management - remove needs feedback label
+name: Issue management - remove labels as needed
 
 on:
   issue_comment:
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
 
-      - name: Remove label
+      - name: Remove labels
         env:
           ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
           gh issue edit --remove-label "needs author feedback" $ISSUE_NUMBER
+          gh issue edit --remove-label "stale" $ISSUE_NUMBER
diff --git a/.github/workflows/issue-management-stale-action.yml b/.github/workflows/issue-management-stale-action.yml
index 3228ba48185..db4b2c5c95e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/issue-management-stale-action.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/issue-management-stale-action.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ on:
   schedule:
     # hourly at minute 23
     - cron: "23 * * * *"
+  workflow_dispatch:
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ossf-scorecard.yml b/.github/workflows/ossf-scorecard.yml
index 377ee0de82a..a95cb88f9a8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ossf-scorecard.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ossf-scorecard.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ on:
     - cron: "43 6 * * 5" # weekly at 06:43 (UTC) on Friday
   workflow_dispatch:
 
-permissions: read-all
+permissions:
+  contents: read
 
 jobs:
   analysis:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/prepare-patch-release.yml b/.github/workflows/prepare-patch-release.yml
index dbfd97e25ec..78ebeb9175b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/prepare-patch-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/prepare-patch-release.yml
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ jobs:
           sed -Ei "s/^## Unreleased$/## Version $VERSION ($date)/" CHANGELOG.md
 
       - name: Use CLA approved github bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
+        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
 
       - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67018539274d69449ef7c02e8e71183d1719ab42 # v2.1.4
         id: otelbot-token
diff --git a/.github/workflows/prepare-release-branch.yml b/.github/workflows/prepare-release-branch.yml
index d2eadfab1f3..50269f3c788 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/prepare-release-branch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/prepare-release-branch.yml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ jobs:
           sed -Ei "s/^## Unreleased$/## Version $VERSION ($date)/" CHANGELOG.md
 
       - name: Use CLA approved github bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
+        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
 
       - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67018539274d69449ef7c02e8e71183d1719ab42 # v2.1.4
         id: otelbot-token
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ jobs:
           sed -Ei "s/^## Unreleased$/## Unreleased\n\n## Version $VERSION ($date)/" CHANGELOG.md
 
       - name: Use CLA approved github bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
+        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
 
       - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67018539274d69449ef7c02e8e71183d1719ab42 # v2.1.4
         id: otelbot-token
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 165a9b06704..578fd7de0fd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ jobs:
           git add README.md
 
       - name: Use CLA approved bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-github-bot.sh
+        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
 
       - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67018539274d69449ef7c02e8e71183d1719ab42 # v2.1.4
         id: otelbot-token
diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable-markdown-link-check.yml b/.github/workflows/reusable-link-check.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from .github/workflows/reusable-markdown-link-check.yml
rename to .github/workflows/reusable-link-check.yml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable-misspell-check.yml b/.github/workflows/reusable-misspell-check.yml
index 9de2b744263..56df6633530 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/reusable-misspell-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/reusable-misspell-check.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install misspell
         run: |
-          curl -L -o install-misspell.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/client9/misspell/master/install-misspell.sh
-          sh ./install-misspell.sh
+          curl -sfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/misspell/master/install-misspell.sh | sh -s -- -b bin
 
       - name: Run misspell
         run: bin/misspell -error .