diff --git a/scripts/build-release.sh b/scripts/build-release.sh
index 86c6f9333..01f040249 100755
--- a/scripts/build-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-release.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ BUILD_DIR="build/Release"
 SIGN_IDENTITY="${SIGN_IDENTITY:-Developer ID Application: Dat Ngo Quoc (D7HJ5TFYCU)}"
 TEAM_ID="D7HJ5TFYCU"
 NOTARIZE="${NOTARIZE:-false}"
-APPLE_ID="${APPLE_ID:-datngoquoc@icloud.com}"
 
 echo "🏗️  Building TablePro for: $ARCH"
 
@@ -360,7 +359,6 @@ build_for_arch() {
         CLANG_COVERAGE_MAPPING=NO \
         ENABLE_CODE_COVERAGE=NO \
         ${PROFILE_ARGS[@]+"${PROFILE_ARGS[@]}"} \
-        ${ANALYTICS_HMAC_SECRET:+ANALYTICS_HMAC_SECRET="$ANALYTICS_HMAC_SECRET"} \
         -skipPackagePluginValidation \
         -clonedSourcePackagesDirPath "$SPM_CACHE_DIR" \
         -derivedDataPath build/DerivedData \
diff --git a/scripts/check-redis-command-routing.sh b/scripts/check-redis-command-routing.sh
index af4a73285..9b7bef9ca 100755
--- a/scripts/check-redis-command-routing.sh
+++ b/scripts/check-redis-command-routing.sh
@@ -45,12 +45,17 @@ esac
 
 echo "Checking the curated table against Redis $VERSION at $HOST:$PORT"
 
-redis-cli --json -h "$HOST" -p "$PORT" command > /tmp/redis-command-table.json || {
+# A private directory, matching every sibling check script. /tmp is world-writable, so a fixed
+# name is something another local user can pre-create and control.
+WORK="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$WORK"' EXIT
+
+redis-cli --json -h "$HOST" -p "$PORT" command > "$WORK/command-table.json" || {
     echo "COMMAND was refused; the user's ACL has to allow it for this check" >&2
     exit 3
 }
 
-python3 - "$SOURCE" /tmp/redis-command-table.json <<'PY'
+python3 - "$SOURCE" "$WORK/command-table.json" <<'PY'
 import json
 import re
 import sys
@@ -180,5 +185,4 @@ if mismatches:
 print("the curated table matches the server")
 PY
 status=$?
-rm -f /tmp/redis-command-table.json
 exit $status
diff --git a/scripts/ci/sign-and-appcast.sh b/scripts/ci/sign-and-appcast.sh
index ee51f24bc..b9109ba9b 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/sign-and-appcast.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/sign-and-appcast.sh
@@ -22,8 +22,18 @@ fi
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 1. Locate Sparkle tools
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-brew list --cask sparkle &>/dev/null || brew install --cask sparkle
-SPARKLE_BIN="$(brew --caskroom)/sparkle/$(ls "$(brew --caskroom)/sparkle" | head -1)/bin"
+# Pinned and checksum-verified rather than installed from a cask that tracks latest. This step
+# holds the EdDSA private key that signs every update every user receives, so it should not run a
+# binary whose contents can change between releases. The version matches the Sparkle framework
+# pinned in Package.resolved, so both move together.
+SPARKLE_VERSION="2.9.5"
+SPARKLE_SHA256="015336b601493e05c237964954bff6191370003d94edefe663724c88840d73cc"
+SPARKLE_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"
+curl -sSLo "$SPARKLE_DIR/sparkle.tar.xz" \
+    "https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/releases/download/$SPARKLE_VERSION/Sparkle-$SPARKLE_VERSION.tar.xz"
+echo "$SPARKLE_SHA256  $SPARKLE_DIR/sparkle.tar.xz" | shasum -a 256 -c -
+tar xf "$SPARKLE_DIR/sparkle.tar.xz" -C "$SPARKLE_DIR"
+SPARKLE_BIN="$SPARKLE_DIR/bin"
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 2. Extract release notes from CHANGELOG.md → HTML
diff --git a/scripts/duckdb-ios-extensions.cmake b/scripts/duckdb-ios-extensions.cmake
index cc0e4edf9..d4f239f25 100644
--- a/scripts/duckdb-ios-extensions.cmake
+++ b/scripts/duckdb-ios-extensions.cmake
@@ -9,9 +9,15 @@
 # (httpfs, quack) are fetched from their own repos. quack is what powers remote
 # DuckDB connections; it requires httpfs (TLS over OpenSSL) at runtime.
 #
-# Pin httpfs and quack to commits whose duckdb submodule matches DUCKDB_VERSION
-# in build-duckdb-ios.sh. quack tracks duckdb main, so when you bump DuckDB,
-# update QUACK_GIT_TAG to a commit built against the same tag.
+# Both are pinned to a commit, never a branch: these are compiled into a binary that ships on
+# the App Store, and a moving ref means nobody can say what was in a given release.
+#
+# The rule when bumping DuckDB is to move each pin to a commit whose own duckdb submodule matches
+# DUCKDB_VERSION in build-duckdb-ios.sh. That is not satisfied today: the quack pin below is the
+# head of its v1.5-variegata line and carries duckdb v1.5.4, while the build uses v1.5.2. No
+# commit on that branch carries v1.5.2, so closing the gap means either moving DUCKDB_VERSION to
+# v1.5.4, which also has to move the bundled macOS libduckdb.a, or backporting quack. Pinned
+# anyway, because a fixed commit on the right release line is strictly better than tracking main.
 
 duckdb_extension_load(core_functions)
 duckdb_extension_load(json)
@@ -26,4 +32,4 @@ duckdb_extension_load(httpfs
 
 duckdb_extension_load(quack
     GIT_URL https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb-quack
-    GIT_TAG main)
+    GIT_TAG 7e80f7ffcc98d0b3e81d0e1df8cc1c2da240a64b)
diff --git a/scripts/publish-libs.sh b/scripts/publish-libs.sh
index f071f4f9a..b63137599 100755
--- a/scripts/publish-libs.sh
+++ b/scripts/publish-libs.sh
@@ -128,12 +128,27 @@ echo "✅ All unchanged libraries match HEAD"
 echo "📝 Regenerating $CHECKSUMS_FILE..."
 shasum -a 256 Libs/*.a > "$CHECKSUMS_FILE"
 
+# An allowlist of exactly what the checksum guard above covers, not `-C Libs .`. The dot swept in
+# Libs/ios and Libs/dylibs, so every download of the macOS archive also carried about 78 MB of iOS
+# xcframeworks that nothing here verified, and the marker files with them.
 echo "📦 Creating $LIBS_ARCHIVE..."
-tar czf "/tmp/$LIBS_ARCHIVE" -C Libs .
+archive_members=()
+for lib in Libs/*.a; do
+    archive_members+=("$(basename "$lib")")
+done
+if [ "${#archive_members[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo "❌ No Libs/*.a to publish."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# A private directory rather than a predictable /tmp name: this archive is uploaded publicly, and
+# /tmp is world-writable, so a fixed path is something another local user can replace first.
+staging="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$staging"' EXIT
+tar czf "$staging/$LIBS_ARCHIVE" -C Libs "${archive_members[@]}" "$(basename "$CHECKSUMS_FILE")"
 
 echo "☁️  Uploading to $REPO@$LIBS_TAG..."
-gh release upload "$LIBS_TAG" "/tmp/$LIBS_ARCHIVE" --clobber --repo "$REPO"
-rm -f "/tmp/$LIBS_ARCHIVE"
+gh release upload "$LIBS_TAG" "$staging/$LIBS_ARCHIVE" --clobber --repo "$REPO"
 
 echo ""
 echo "🎉 Published. Now commit the checksum update:"