diff --git a/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml b/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
index 14fd7622b57..7d8bd3e1c64 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ jobs:
 
   selinux:
     name: Run GNU tests (SELinux)
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest # using VM's glibc
     steps:
     #### Get the code
     - name: Checkout code (uutils)
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ jobs:
 
   qemu:
     name: Run GNU tests (SMACK/ROOTFS)
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest # using Arch glibc
     steps:
     - name: Checkout code (uutils)
       uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ jobs:
       actions: read  # to download this run's own result artifacts
       contents: read  # for actions/checkout to fetch code, and to read the reference branch
     name: Aggregate GNU test results
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
     - name: Initialize workflow variables
       id: vars
@@ -606,7 +606,7 @@ jobs:
       actions: read  # to download this run's own result artifacts
       contents: write  # to push to the reference branch
     name: Publish reference GNU test results
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     ## Only one run may publish at a time.  The step below reads the currently
     ## published run id and then force-pushes; two overlapping runs could
     ## interleave those, letting an older one overwrite a newer reference.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml b/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
index f1394f8c1a7..95a80c29893 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
@@ -23,13 +23,13 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   style:
     name: Style and Lint
-    runs-on: ${{ matrix.job.os }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 45
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         job:
-          - { os: ubuntu-24.04 , features: unix }
+          - { features: unix }
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v7.0.1
       with:
@@ -109,13 +109,13 @@ jobs:
 
   test:
     name: Tests
-    runs-on: ${{ matrix.job.os }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 45
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         job:
-          - { os: ubuntu-24.04 , features: unix }
+          - { features: unix }
     env:
       mem: 4096
     steps:
diff --git a/util/run-gnu-tests-smack-ci.sh b/util/run-gnu-tests-smack-ci.sh
index 3eaae1ea24d..a43c969f959 100755
--- a/util/run-gnu-tests-smack-ci.sh
+++ b/util/run-gnu-tests-smack-ci.sh
@@ -101,9 +101,9 @@ for TEST_PATH in $QEMU_TESTS; do
     rm -rf "$WORK" "$WORK.gz"
     cp -a "$QEMU_DIR/rootfs" "$WORK"
 
-    # Hardlink utilities for SMACK/ROOTFS tests
+    # symlink utilities for SMACK/ROOTFS tests
     for U in $("$REPO_DIR/target/${PROFILE}/coreutils" --list); do
-        ln -f "$REPO_DIR/target/${PROFILE}/coreutils" "$WORK/bin/$U"
+        ln -sf "$REPO_DIR/target/${PROFILE}/coreutils" "$WORK/bin/$U"
     done
 
     # Set test script path and user