diff --git a/ci/installdeps.sh b/ci/installdeps.sh
index 33bf79e677..f3b8fff290 100755
--- a/ci/installdeps.sh
+++ b/ci/installdeps.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ if [ -z "${SKIP_INSTALLDEPS:-}" ] && test $(id -u) -eq 0; then
     dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
     # we have the canonical spec file handy so just builddep from that
     # XXX: use --allowerasing as a temporary hack to ease the migration to libmodulemd2
-    time dnf builddep --spec -y packaging/rpm-ostree.spec.in --allowerasing
+    time dnf builddep --spec -y packaging/rpm-ostree.spec --allowerasing
 
     osid="$(. /etc/os-release && echo $ID)"
     if [ "${osid}" == centos ]; then
diff --git a/docs/RELEASE.md b/docs/RELEASE.md
index e1abf2732b..d992f6c8d9 100644
--- a/docs/RELEASE.md
+++ b/docs/RELEASE.md
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ nav_order: 3
 # Releasing rpm-ostree
 
 1. Increment the `year_version` and `release_version` macros in `configure.ac`.
-2. Increment the `Version` field in `rpm-ostree.spec.in`.
-3. Verify the libdnf deps in `rpm-ostree.spec.in` are up to date by copy/pasting
+2. Increment the `Version` field in `rpm-ostree.spec`.
+3. Verify the libdnf deps in `rpm-ostree.spec` are up to date by copy/pasting
    the relevant bits from the spec in the git submodule (`libdnf/libdnf.spec`).
 4. Submit as a PR and wait until reviewed *and* CI is green.
 5. Once merged, do `git pull $upstream && git reset --hard $upstream/main` on
diff --git a/packaging/Makefile.dist-packaging b/packaging/Makefile.dist-packaging
index 61f4d6dfc4..586690dfd5 100644
--- a/packaging/Makefile.dist-packaging
+++ b/packaging/Makefile.dist-packaging
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ dist-snapshot:
 	xz -T0 $(PKG_VER).tar
 
 srpm: dist-snapshot
-	 sed -e "s,^Version:.*,Version: $(GITREV_FOR_PKG)," $(PACKAGE).spec.in > $(PACKAGE).spec; \
+	 sed -e "s,^Version:.*,Version: $(GITREV_FOR_PKG)," $(PACKAGE).spec > $(PACKAGE).spec.new; \
+	 mv $(PACKAGE).spec.new $(PACKAGE).spec; \
 	 ./rpmbuild-cwd -bs $(PACKAGE).spec
 
 rpm: srpm
diff --git a/packaging/rpm-ostree.spec.in b/packaging/rpm-ostree.spec
similarity index 100%
rename from packaging/rpm-ostree.spec.in
rename to packaging/rpm-ostree.spec