diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 7a67772..099f20b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@ on:
   push:
     tags: ['v*']
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      publish_release:
+        description: 'Publish the GitHub release after all platform QA is certified'
+        type: boolean
+        default: false
+      certified_cross_platform:
+        description: 'Confirm Windows, Linux, and macOS clean-machine QA passed'
+        type: boolean
+        default: false
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
@@ -89,7 +98,11 @@ jobs:
 
   publish:
     name: Publish GitHub release
-    if: github.ref_type == 'tag'
+    if: >-
+      github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' &&
+      startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v') &&
+      inputs.publish_release &&
+      inputs.certified_cross_platform
     needs: build
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index cba45c1..27590e4 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -53,15 +53,23 @@ node scripts/verify-binaries.js --search-root "$APP" --target aarch64-apple-darw
 node scripts/smoke-packaged-app.js --executable "$APP/Contents/MacOS/firelink"
 ```
 
-## Automated release
+GitHub release publication is intentionally manual. Tag pushes build and upload
+artifacts, but the `publish` job only runs from a `workflow_dispatch` on a `v*`
+tag when both release-certification inputs are checked after Windows, Linux,
+and macOS clean-machine QA.
 
-Push a version tag:
+## Automated release builds
+
+Push a version tag to build and verify native artifacts:
 
 ```bash
 git tag v<version>
 git push origin v<version>
 ```
 
-GitHub Actions builds all targets on native runners, verifies engines inside final package contents, performs packaged launch smoke where supported, creates SHA-256 sums, then publishes one GitHub Release.
+GitHub Actions builds all targets on native runners, verifies engines inside
+final package contents, performs packaged launch smoke where supported, and
+uploads artifacts. Publish the GitHub Release with a manual `workflow_dispatch`
+run on the same tag after clean-machine QA is complete.
 
 No target may silently skip missing engines, failed extraction, checksum mismatch, or missing package output.
diff --git a/src-tauri/build.rs b/src-tauri/build.rs
index d860e1e..a270b53 100644
--- a/src-tauri/build.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/build.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 fn main() {
+    std::fs::create_dir_all("engine-dist")
+        .expect("failed to create generated engine resource directory");
     tauri_build::build()
 }
diff --git a/src-tauri/src/lib.rs b/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
index 6fc4623..c8ad836 100644
--- a/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
@@ -2997,7 +2997,7 @@ fn get_free_space(app_handle: tauri::AppHandle, path: String) -> Result<String,
 
     for disk in disks.list() {
         let mount_point = disk.mount_point();
-        if resolved_dest.starts_with(mount_point) {
+        if crate::platform::path_is_within(&resolved_dest, mount_point) {
             let match_len = mount_point.as_os_str().len();
             if match_len > max_match_len {
                 max_match_len = match_len;
diff --git a/src/utils/downloadLocations.test.ts b/src/utils/downloadLocations.test.ts
index 4bcbdaf..3fda862 100644
--- a/src/utils/downloadLocations.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/downloadLocations.test.ts
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ import {
 } from './downloadLocations';
 
 describe('download locations', () => {
-  it('compares Windows and macOS locations case-insensitively', () => {
+  it('matches backend platform path case semantics', () => {
     expect(downloadLocationEquals('D:\\Downloads', 'Movie.MP4', 'd:/downloads', 'movie.mp4', 'windows')).toBe(true);
-    expect(downloadLocationEquals('/Users/Test', 'Movie.MP4', '/users/test', 'movie.mp4', 'macos')).toBe(true);
+    expect(downloadLocationEquals('/Users/Test', 'Movie.MP4', '/users/test', 'movie.mp4', 'macos')).toBe(false);
     expect(downloadLocationEquals('/home/Test', 'Movie.MP4', '/home/test', 'movie.mp4', 'linux')).toBe(false);
   });
   beforeEach(() => {
diff --git a/src/utils/downloadLocations.ts b/src/utils/downloadLocations.ts
index ef7df9b..bbe3d45 100644
--- a/src/utils/downloadLocations.ts
+++ b/src/utils/downloadLocations.ts
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ export const downloadLocationEquals = (
 ): boolean => {
   const normalize = (value: string) => {
     const normalized = value.replace(/\\/g, '/').replace(/\/+$/, '');
-    return os === 'windows' || os === 'macos'
+    return os === 'windows'
       ? normalized.toLocaleLowerCase()
       : normalized;
   };