diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 687aa87bf8..506b5d09e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Generate dist packages
         run: |
           curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
-          ./ci-scripts/pypi-genreadme.py README.md
+          ./ci-scripts/pypi_genreadme.py README.md
           uv build
       - name: Publish ReFrame to PyPI
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b56629d521..ece955e22b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -144,6 +144,10 @@ Here is a list of the available extras during installation:
 > pip uninstall -y polars
 > ```
 
+> [!WARNING]
+> `uv` versions older than 0.11.33 have a [bug](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/pull/20671) that mishandles marker-based default dependencies like `polars`, so a plain `uv tool install reframe-hpc` or `uv pip install reframe-hpc` (no extras at all) would silently skip `polars`, disabling the results storage feature without warning.
+> Make sure you are on `uv` 0.11.33 or later (`uv self update`).
+
 ## Running from source
 
 If you want to run the latest ReFrame directly from the repo, you can simply clone the repo and `uv run` ReFrame:
diff --git a/ci-scripts/deploy.sh b/ci-scripts/make_release.sh
similarity index 62%
rename from ci-scripts/deploy.sh
rename to ci-scripts/make_release.sh
index b516e96a20..fb9a6ce744 100755
--- a/ci-scripts/deploy.sh
+++ b/ci-scripts/make_release.sh
@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ usage()
 {
     echo "Usage: $0 VERSION"
     echo "  Environment:"
-    echo "    - GH_DEPLOY_CREDENTIALS=<user>:<token>"
+    echo "    - GITHUB_CREDENTIALS=<user>:<token>"
 }
 
 _onerror()
 {
     exitcode=$?
-    echo "$0: ReFrame deployment failed!"
+    echo "$0: ReFrame release failed!"
     echo "$0: command \`$BASH_COMMAND' failed (exit code: $exitcode)"
     cd $oldpwd
     exit $exitcode
@@ -27,33 +27,31 @@ if [ -z $version ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-py_minor_version=$(python3 -c 'import sys; print(sys.version_info.minor)')
-if [ $py_minor_version -lt 5 ]; then
-    echo "$0: deployment script requires Python>=3.5" >&2
+if [ ! uv --version >/dev/null 2>&1 ]; then
+    echo "$0: uv is not installed" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
 
-if [ -z "$GH_DEPLOY_CREDENTIALS" ]; then
+if [ -z "$GITHUB_CREDENTIALS" ]; then
     _gh_creds_prefix=""
 else
-    _gh_creds_prefix="${GH_DEPLOY_CREDENTIALS}@"
+    _gh_creds_prefix="${GITHUB_CREDENTIALS}@"
 fi
 
 
 tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
-echo "Deploying ReFrame version $version ..."
+echo "Releasing ReFrame version $version ..."
 echo "Working directory: $tmpdir ..."
 cd $tmpdir
 git clone --branch master https://${_gh_creds_prefix}github.com/reframe-hpc/reframe.git
 cd reframe
-./bootstrap.sh
-found_version=$(./bin/reframe -V | sed -e 's/\(.*\)\+.*/\1/g')
+found_version=$(uv run reframe -V | sed -e 's/\(.*\)\+.*/\1/g')
 if [ $found_version != $version ]; then
     echo "$0: version mismatch: found $found_version, but required $version" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
 
-./test_reframe.py
+uv run ./test_reframe.py
 git tag -a v$version -m "ReFrame $version"
 git push origin --tags
 
diff --git a/ci-scripts/pypi-genreadme.py b/ci-scripts/pypi_genreadme.py
similarity index 100%
rename from ci-scripts/pypi-genreadme.py
rename to ci-scripts/pypi_genreadme.py