diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index a1f7daaf63..68ccfc2488 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2020 Red Hat, Inc.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2023 Red Hat, Inc.
 # This program and the accompanying materials are made
 # available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
 # which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
diff --git a/make-release.sh b/make-release.sh
index 55cd401eb4..bd3e941a7c 100755
--- a/make-release.sh
+++ b/make-release.sh
@@ -37,21 +37,22 @@ loadMvnSettingsGpgKey() {
     gpg --version
 }
 
-installDebDeps(){
-    set +x
-    # TODO should this be node 12?
-    curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
-    sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
-}
+# comment out: why do we think we need nodejs installed for a java build?
+# installDebDeps(){
+#     set +x
+#     curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
+#     sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
+# }
 
-installMaven(){
-    set -x
-    mkdir -p /opt/apache-maven && curl -sSL https://downloads.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.6.3/binaries/apache-maven-3.6.3-bin.tar.gz | tar -xz --strip=1 -C /opt/apache-maven
-    export M2_HOME="/opt/apache-maven"
-    export PATH="/opt/apache-maven/bin:${PATH}"
-    mvn -version || die_with "mvn not found in path: ${PATH} !"
-    set +x
-}
+# comment out: already installed via GH action so no need to do it again
+# installMaven(){
+#     set -x
+#     mkdir -p /opt/apache-maven && curl -sSL https://downloads.apache.org/maven/maven-3/3.8.8/binaries/apache-maven-3.8.8-bin.tar.gz | tar -xz --strip=1 -C /opt/apache-maven
+#     export M2_HOME="/opt/apache-maven"
+#     export PATH="/opt/apache-maven/bin:${PATH}"
+#     mvn -version || die_with "mvn not found in path: ${PATH} !"
+#     set +x
+# }
 
 evaluateCheVariables() {
     echo "Che version: ${CHE_VERSION}"
@@ -392,9 +393,14 @@ updateImageTagsInCheServer() {
     popd >/dev/null
 }
 
-installMaven
+# already installed via GH action so no need to do it again
+# installMaven
+
 loadMvnSettingsGpgKey
-installDebDeps
+
+# why do we think we need nodejs installed for a java build?
+# installDebDeps 
+
 set -x
 setupGitconfig
 
diff --git a/typescript-dto/build.sh b/typescript-dto/build.sh
index 9d10893651..4f173128b0 100755
--- a/typescript-dto/build.sh
+++ b/typescript-dto/build.sh
@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@ set -u
 rm -f ./index.d.ts
 
 set +e
-docker run -i --rm -v "$HOME/.m2:/root/.m2" \
+BUILDER=$(command -v podman)
+if [ ! -x "$BUILDER" ]; then BUILDER=$(command -v docker); fi
+$BUILDER run -i --rm -v "$HOME/.m2:/root/.m2" \
                    -v "$(pwd)/dto-pom.xml:/usr/src/mymaven/pom.xml" \
-                   -w /usr/src/mymaven maven:3.6.1-jdk-11 \
+                   -w /usr/src/mymaven docker.io/maven:3.8-jdk-11 \
                     /bin/bash -c "mvn -q -U -DskipTests=true -Dfindbugs.skip=true -Dskip-validate-sources install \
                     && cat target/dts-dto-typescript.d.ts" >> index.d.ts
 
@@ -31,4 +33,4 @@ fi
 
 CHE_VERSION=$(mvn -q -Dexec.executable=echo -Dexec.args="\${project.version}" --non-recursive exec:exec -f ../pom.xml)
 
-docker build -t eclipse-che-ts-api --build-arg CHE_VERSION="${CHE_VERSION}" --build-arg NPM_AUTH_TOKEN="${CHE_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}" .
+$BUILDER build -t eclipse-che-ts-api --build-arg CHE_VERSION="${CHE_VERSION}" --build-arg NPM_AUTH_TOKEN="${CHE_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}" .