diff --git a/.github/workflows/artkit-release-pipeline.yml b/.github/workflows/artkit-release-pipeline.yml
index 6de480a..ad6c2da 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/artkit-release-pipeline.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/artkit-release-pipeline.yml
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ jobs:
           # We check out the result of the trigger action, i.e., either the merge commit
           # from a pull request or the commit from a direct push to the target branch
           ref: ${{ github.ref }}
+          # We fetch the last two commits to ensure we have the base branch's history
+          fetch-depth: 2
 
       - name: Set up Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
@@ -135,8 +137,8 @@ jobs:
   unit_tests:
     # Run unit tests on the codebase, in developer mode
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: detect_build_config_changes
-    if: ${{ needs.detect_build_config_changes.outputs.conda_build_config_changed == '1' }}
+    # We only run the unit tests once the code quality checks have passed
+    needs: code_quality_checks
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -336,7 +338,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Upload artifacts
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
-          name: ${{ matrix.build-system }}_${{ matrix.pkg-dependencies }}
+          name: "${{ matrix.build-system }}_${{ matrix.pkg-dependencies }}"
           path: ${{ env.DIRNAME_WORKSPACE }}/dist
 
   veracode_check:
@@ -344,6 +346,10 @@ jobs:
     # We only do this when the code quality checks have passed and the pipeline is
     # preparing or executing a release.
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - code_quality_checks
+      - check_release
+    # IF (PR from dev/ to release/) OR (push into release/) OR (scheduled run)
     if: startsWith(github.head_ref, 'dev/') || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/heads/release/') || github.event_name == 'schedule'
 
     steps:
@@ -416,6 +422,8 @@ jobs:
           python -m pip install toml~=0.10.2 packaging~=20.9
           cd ${{ github.workspace }}/artkit
           python <<EOF
+
+          import re
           from os import environ
           from make import ToxBuilder
 
@@ -425,15 +433,20 @@ jobs:
           assert (branch.startswith("release/") or branch.startswith("dev/") or branch=="1.0.x"
           ), "This check should only run on versioned branches – check pipeline."
 
-          if branch=="1.0.x":
-            branch_version = branch[:-2]
+          # check if branch is a main branch with pattern \d.\d.x; if so, extract the major and minor version number
+          main_branch = re.match(r"(\d+.\d+.)x", branch)
+          if main_branch:
+            branch_version = main_branch.group(1)
             package_version = ToxBuilder("${{ env.project_name }}", "default").package_version
-            assert package_version.startswith(branch_version), f"Package version '{package_version}' does not match '{branch_version}' from branch."
+            assert (
+              package_version.startswith(branch_version),
+              f"Package version '{package_version}' does not match '{branch_version}' from branch."
+            )
           else:
             branch_version = branch.split("/", maxsplit=1)[1]
             package_version = ToxBuilder("${{ env.project_name }}", "default").package_version
             assert (
-                package_version == branch_version
+              package_version == branch_version
             ), f"Package version '{package_version}' does not match '{branch_version}' from branch."
 
           print("Check passed.")
@@ -538,7 +551,7 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           GITHUB_REPOSITORY: ${{ github.repository }}
-          release_name: ${{ env.project_name }} ${{ env.current_version }}
+          release_name: "${{ env.project_name }} ${{ env.current_version }}"
           body: |
             This is the ${{ env.current_version }} release of ${{ env.package_name }}.