diff --git a/config/pkg/ext/ext-brotli.yml b/config/pkg/ext/ext-brotli.yml
index 147ecb63..b87fb9ef 100644
--- a/config/pkg/ext/ext-brotli.yml
+++ b/config/pkg/ext/ext-brotli.yml
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ ext-brotli:
   type: php-extension
   artifact:
     source:
-      type: git
+      type: ghtagtar
+      repo: kjdev/php-ext-brotli
       extract: php-src/ext/brotli
-      rev: master
-      url: 'https://github.com/kjdev/php-ext-brotli'
     metadata:
       license-files: [LICENSE]
       license: MIT
   depends:
     - brotli
+  php-extension:
+    arg-type: '--enable-brotli@shared_suffix@ --with-libbrotli'
diff --git a/config/pkg/ext/ext-zstd.yml b/config/pkg/ext/ext-zstd.yml
index 9b01422b..b07db490 100644
--- a/config/pkg/ext/ext-zstd.yml
+++ b/config/pkg/ext/ext-zstd.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,8 @@ ext-zstd:
   type: php-extension
   artifact:
     source:
-      type: git
-      url: 'https://github.com/kjdev/php-ext-zstd'
-      rev: master
+      type: ghtar
+      repo: kjdev/php-ext-zstd
       extract: php-src/ext/zstd
     metadata:
       license-files: [LICENSE]
diff --git a/src/Package/Extension/event.php b/src/Package/Extension/event.php
index db119274..9aca279f 100644
--- a/src/Package/Extension/event.php
+++ b/src/Package/Extension/event.php
@@ -35,12 +35,30 @@ class event extends PhpExtensionPackage
 
     #[BeforeStage('php', [php::class, 'makeForUnix'], 'ext-event')]
     #[PatchDescription('Prevent event extension compile error on macOS')]
+    #[PatchDescription('Patch libevent http_connection.c to use a const peer address')]
     public function patchBeforeMake(PackageInstaller $installer): void
     {
+        $php_src = $installer->getTargetPackage('php')->getSourceDir();
         // Prevent event extension compile error on macOS
         if (SystemTarget::getTargetOS() === 'Darwin') {
-            $php_src = $installer->getTargetPackage('php')->getSourceDir();
             FileSystem::replaceFileRegex("{$php_src}/main/php_config.h", '/^#define HAVE_OPENPTY 1$/m', '');
         }
+        $this->patchLibeventConstPeer("{$php_src}/ext/event");
+    }
+
+    #[BeforeStage('ext-event', [PhpExtensionPackage::class, 'makeForUnix'])]
+    #[PatchDescription('Patch libevent http_connection.c to use a const peer address')]
+    public function patchBeforeSharedMake(PhpExtensionPackage $pkg): void
+    {
+        $this->patchLibeventConstPeer($pkg->getSourceDir());
+    }
+
+    private function patchLibeventConstPeer(string $event_source_dir): bool
+    {
+        $file = "{$event_source_dir}/php8/classes/http_connection.c";
+        if (is_file($file) && FileSystem::replaceFileRegex($file, '/^\tchar \*address;$/m', "\tconst char *address;")) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        return false;
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Package/Target/php.php b/src/Package/Target/php.php
index 280a0646..1704aa4e 100644
--- a/src/Package/Target/php.php
+++ b/src/Package/Target/php.php
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ class php extends TargetPackage
         $package->addBuildOption('disable-opcache-jit', null, null, 'Disable opcache jit');
         $package->addBuildOption('with-config-file-path', null, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Set the path in which to look for php.ini', PHP_OS_FAMILY === 'Windows' ? null : '/usr/local/etc/php');
         $package->addBuildOption('with-config-file-scan-dir', null, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Set the directory to scan for .ini files after reading php.ini', PHP_OS_FAMILY === 'Windows' ? null : '/usr/local/etc/php/conf.d');
+        $package->addBuildOption('with-sysconfdir', null, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Set the sysconfdir (e.g. /etc/php-zts) used by configure (not available on Windows)');
         $package->addBuildOption('with-hardcoded-ini', 'I', InputOption::VALUE_IS_ARRAY | InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Patch PHP source code, inject hardcoded INI');
         $package->addBuildOption('enable-zts', null, null, 'Enable thread safe support');
         $package->addBuildOption('no-smoke-test', null, InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL, 'Disable smoke test for specific SAPIs, or all if no value provided', false);
diff --git a/src/Package/Target/php/unix.php b/src/Package/Target/php/unix.php
index ae4f9ed7..b141a12d 100644
--- a/src/Package/Target/php/unix.php
+++ b/src/Package/Target/php/unix.php
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ trait unix
 
     #[BeforeStage('php', [self::class, 'configureForUnix'], 'php')]
     #[PatchDescription('Patch configure to use -std=gnu17 instead of -std=gnu23 for PHP <= 8.2')]
+    #[PatchDescription('Strip build-time env vars from phpinfo\'s "Configure Command"')]
     public function patchBeforeConfigure(TargetPackage $package): void
     {
         if (SystemTarget::isUnix() && self::getPHPVersionID() < 80300) {
@@ -84,6 +85,22 @@ trait unix
                 "for ac_arg in '' -std=gnu17",
             );
         }
+
+        // strip our build-time env vars from phpinfo's "Configure Command" ('|' delimiter: PHP_BUILD_PROVIDER may contain '#')
+        if (SystemTarget::isUnix()) {
+            FileSystem::replaceFileStr(
+                "{$package->getSourceDir()}/configure",
+                'for var in CFLAGS CXXFLAGS CPPFLAGS LDFLAGS EXTRA_LDFLAGS_PROGRAM LIBS CC CXX; do',
+                'for var in CFLAGS CXXFLAGS CPPFLAGS LDFLAGS EXTRA_LDFLAGS_PROGRAM LIBS CC CXX '
+                . 'PKG_CONFIG PKG_CONFIG_PATH EXTENSION_DIR OPENSSL_LIBS '
+                . 'PHP_BUILD_SYSTEM PHP_BUILD_PROVIDER PHP_BUILD_COMPILER PHP_BUILD_ARCH; do',
+            );
+            FileSystem::replaceFileStr(
+                "{$package->getSourceDir()}/configure",
+                'clean_configure_args=$(echo $clean_configure_args | $SED -e "s#\'$var=$val\'##")',
+                'clean_configure_args=$(echo $clean_configure_args | $SED -e "s|\'$var=$val\'||")',
+            );
+        }
     }
 
     #[Stage]
@@ -125,6 +142,9 @@ trait unix
         if ($option = $package->getBuildOption('with-config-file-scan-dir', false)) {
             $args[] = "--with-config-file-scan-dir={$option}";
         }
+        if ($option = $package->getBuildOption('with-sysconfdir', false)) {
+            $args[] = "--sysconfdir={$option}";
+        }
         // perform enable cli options
         $args[] = $installer->isPackageResolved('php-cli') ? '--enable-cli' : '--disable-cli';
         $args[] = $installer->isPackageResolved('php-fpm')
diff --git a/src/StaticPHP/Artifact/Downloader/Type/GitHubRelease.php b/src/StaticPHP/Artifact/Downloader/Type/GitHubRelease.php
index 20db7127..fd9b1f95 100644
--- a/src/StaticPHP/Artifact/Downloader/Type/GitHubRelease.php
+++ b/src/StaticPHP/Artifact/Downloader/Type/GitHubRelease.php
@@ -57,6 +57,16 @@ class GitHubRelease implements DownloadTypeInterface, ValidatorInterface, CheckU
         if (!is_array($data)) {
             throw new DownloaderException("Failed to get GitHub release API info for {$repo} from {$url}");
         }
+        // GitHub's /releases list is ordered by publish date, so a newer-tagged prerelease
+        // (e.g. 2.2.x-alpha) can precede the latest stable (2.1.x-stable). /releases/latest
+        // returns the semantically latest stable release regardless of order; check it first.
+        if ($prefer_stable) {
+            $latest_url = str_replace('{repo}', $repo, self::API_URL) . '/latest';
+            $latest = json_decode(default_shell()->executeCurl($latest_url, headers: $headers, retries: $retries) ?: '', true);
+            if (is_array($latest) && isset($latest['assets'])) {
+                array_unshift($data, $latest);
+            }
+        }
         foreach ($data as $release) {
             if ($prefer_stable && $release['prerelease'] === true) {
                 continue;
diff --git a/src/StaticPHP/Toolchain/ZigToolchain.php b/src/StaticPHP/Toolchain/ZigToolchain.php
index 05819b16..c8dbb72e 100644
--- a/src/StaticPHP/Toolchain/ZigToolchain.php
+++ b/src/StaticPHP/Toolchain/ZigToolchain.php
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ class ZigToolchain implements UnixToolchainInterface
         $extra_vars = getenv('SPC_EXTRA_PHP_VARS') ?: '';
         GlobalEnvManager::putenv("SPC_EXTRA_PHP_VARS=ac_cv_func_strlcpy=no ac_cv_func_strlcat=no {$extra_vars}");
 
+        // An __attribute__((ifunc)) in LTO bitcode crashes zig 0.16's lld (LLVM 21)
+        // during thin-link symbol resolution
+        $all_flags = $cflags . ' ' . (getenv('SPC_CMD_VAR_PHP_MAKE_EXTRA_CFLAGS') ?: '') . ' ' . (getenv('SPC_DEFAULT_LD_FLAGS') ?: '');
+        if (str_contains($all_flags, '-flto')) {
+            $extra_vars = getenv('SPC_EXTRA_PHP_VARS') ?: '';
+            if (!str_contains($extra_vars, 'ax_cv_have_func_attribute_ifunc')) {
+                GlobalEnvManager::putenv("SPC_EXTRA_PHP_VARS={$extra_vars} ax_cv_have_func_attribute_ifunc=no");
+            }
+        }
+
         $this->ensureCompilerRt();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/globals/scripts/zig-cc.sh b/src/globals/scripts/zig-cc.sh
index 12bdd7e1..9c4ab1dd 100755
--- a/src/globals/scripts/zig-cc.sh
+++ b/src/globals/scripts/zig-cc.sh
@@ -68,13 +68,13 @@ done
 
 RT_DIR="${SPC_COMPILER_RT_DIR:-}"
 if [[ $IS_LINK -eq 1 && $NEED_PROFILE_RT -eq 1 && -n "$RT_DIR" && -f "$RT_DIR/libclang_rt.profile.a" ]]; then
-    PARSED_ARGS+=("$RT_DIR/libclang_rt.profile.a" "-Wl,-u,__llvm_profile_runtime")
+    PARSED_ARGS+=("-x" "none" "$RT_DIR/libclang_rt.profile.a" "-Wl,-u,__llvm_profile_runtime")
 fi
 if [[ $IS_LINK -eq 1 && $NEED_CRT -eq 1 && -n "$RT_DIR" && -f "$RT_DIR/clang_rt.crtbegin.o" && -f "$RT_DIR/clang_rt.crtend.o" ]]; then
-    PARSED_ARGS+=("$RT_DIR/clang_rt.crtbegin.o" "$RT_DIR/clang_rt.crtend.o")
+    PARSED_ARGS+=("-x" "none" "$RT_DIR/clang_rt.crtbegin.o" "$RT_DIR/clang_rt.crtend.o")
 fi
 if [[ $IS_LINK -eq 1 && -n "$RT_DIR" && -f "$RT_DIR/libclang_rt.cpu_model.a" ]]; then
-    PARSED_ARGS+=("$RT_DIR/libclang_rt.cpu_model.a")
+    PARSED_ARGS+=("-x" "none" "$RT_DIR/libclang_rt.cpu_model.a")
 fi
 
 [[ -n "$SPC_TARGET" ]] && TARGET="-target $SPC_TARGET" || TARGET=""