diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-image.yml b/.github/workflows/release-image.yml
index 131c48d46..40e18dee9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-image.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-image.yml
@@ -175,8 +175,8 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           # 5. Deterministic metadata: the build date is the tagged commit's
-          #    own timestamp, so re-running the same release reproduces the
-          #    same image config instead of minting a new digest per run.
+          #    own timestamp, so the image label and the binary's build time
+          #    are the same in every run of the release.
           BUILD_DATE=$(TZ=UTC git show -s --date=format-local:'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ' --format=%cd "$SHA")
 
           {
@@ -287,8 +287,14 @@ jobs:
             VERSION=${{ needs.gate.outputs.version }}
             VCS_REF=${{ needs.gate.outputs.sha }}
             BUILD_DATE=${{ needs.gate.outputs.build_date }}
-          cache-from: type=gha,scope=${{ matrix.arch }}
-          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max,scope=${{ matrix.arch }}
+          # No gha build cache, as in release-dev-image.yml. The image built
+          # here is the one that is scanned, pushed and signed, so a layer
+          # restored from the Actions cache would ship in a signed release
+          # (actions/cache-poisoning/poisonable-step). The cache did little
+          # for release builds: the cargo build layer's inputs change with
+          # every release, so it was restored only when the same release was
+          # built a second time, and exporting the cache took up to two and
+          # a half minutes per build.
 
       - name: Confirm the image really is ${{ matrix.arch }}
         # Cheap guard against a silent platform fallback: a mislabelled image
@@ -415,13 +421,19 @@ jobs:
           CANDIDATE="sha-${SHA}"
 
           # Idempotent no-overwrite: if the candidate tag exists and holds
-          # EXACTLY what this run built, fall through to sign and propagate
-          # (a failed earlier run must be finishable by re-dispatch, or the
-          # failure-prone tail strands a published-but-unsigned candidate no
-          # re-dispatch can fix). Identity is compared by per-arch image
-          # config digest — the image ID, which docker save/load preserves
-          # and the smoke test certified — with NO registry mutation: a
-          # different artifact errors before anything is pushed.
+          # EXACTLY what this run built, fall through to sign and propagate,
+          # so a run that failed after pushing can still be finished.
+          # Identity is compared by per-arch image config digest (the image
+          # ID, which docker save/load preserves and the smoke test
+          # certified) with NO registry mutation: a different artifact
+          # errors before anything is pushed. The build has no layer cache,
+          # so a new dispatch builds images with different IDs and, if the
+          # earlier run pushed the candidate, stops here. To finish a failed
+          # run, use "Re-run failed jobs" on that run while its image
+          # artifacts are kept (retention-days: 1 above); this job then
+          # reloads the images it pushed and they match. Once the artifacts
+          # have expired the run cannot be finished this way; sign-image.yml
+          # covers signing a candidate that was pushed but not signed.
           if EXISTING=$(docker buildx imagetools inspect "${REPO}:${CANDIDATE}" --format '{{.Manifest.Digest}}' 2>/dev/null); then
             RAW=$(skopeo inspect --no-creds --raw "docker://${REPO}@${EXISTING}")
             MATCH=true