diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 0d64d8d9..02d3d67f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ env:
   CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
   NO_COLOR: "1"
   PYTHONUNBUFFERED: "1"
+  PYTHONUTF8: "1"
+  PYTHONIOENCODING: "utf-8"
   LLVM_VERSION: "21"
   LLVM_PREFIX_LINUX: "/usr/lib/llvm-21"
   RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
@@ -165,28 +167,11 @@ jobs:
           rm -rf "$HOME/.wave/lib/wave/std"
           cp -R std "$HOME/.wave/lib/wave/std"
 
-      - name: Verify compiler version
+      - name: Print compiler version
         shell: bash
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-
-          target/release/wavec -V > /tmp/wavec-version.txt 2>&1 || true
-          cat /tmp/wavec-version.txt
-
-          python3 - <<'PY'
-          from pathlib import Path
-          import sys
-
-          text = Path("/tmp/wavec-version.txt").read_text(errors="replace")
-
-          if "wavec " not in text:
-              print("missing wavec version output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-
-          if "backend: LLVM 21." not in text:
-              print("missing LLVM 21 backend output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-          PY
+          target/release/wavec -V 2>&1 || true
 
       - name: Run Wave end-to-end tests
         run: python3 tools/run_tests.py
@@ -282,23 +267,7 @@ jobs:
           tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$temp_dir"
           package="$temp_dir/wave-v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-linux-gnu"
 
-          env -i PATH=/usr/bin:/bin HOME=/tmp "$package/wavec" -V > /tmp/wavec-version.txt 2>&1 || true
-          cat /tmp/wavec-version.txt
-
-          python3 - <<'PY'
-          from pathlib import Path
-          import sys
-
-          text = Path("/tmp/wavec-version.txt").read_text(errors="replace")
-
-          if "wavec " not in text:
-              print("missing packaged wavec version output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-
-          if "backend: LLVM 21." not in text:
-              print("missing packaged LLVM 21 backend output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-          PY
+          env -i PATH=/usr/bin:/bin HOME=/tmp "$package/wavec" -V 2>&1 || true
 
           printf 'fun main() { println("release smoke"); }\n' > "$temp_dir/smoke.wave"
           env -i PATH=/usr/bin:/bin HOME=/tmp "$package/wavec" run "$temp_dir/smoke.wave" \
@@ -406,23 +375,7 @@ jobs:
           tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$temp_dir"
           package="$temp_dir/wave-v${RELEASE_VERSION}-${MACOS_TARGET}"
 
-          env -i PATH=/usr/bin:/bin HOME=/tmp "$package/wavec" -V > /tmp/wavec-version.txt 2>&1 || true
-          cat /tmp/wavec-version.txt
-
-          python3 - <<'PY'
-          from pathlib import Path
-          import sys
-
-          text = Path("/tmp/wavec-version.txt").read_text(errors="replace")
-
-          if "wavec " not in text:
-              print("missing packaged wavec version output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-
-          if "backend: LLVM 21." not in text:
-              print("missing packaged LLVM 21 backend output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-          PY
+          env -i PATH=/usr/bin:/bin HOME=/tmp "$package/wavec" -V 2>&1 || true
 
           printf 'fun main() { println("release smoke"); }\n' > "$temp_dir/smoke.wave"
           env -i PATH=/usr/bin:/bin HOME=/tmp "$package/wavec" run "$temp_dir/smoke.wave" \
@@ -503,7 +456,6 @@ jobs:
           echo "WAVE_WINDOWS_LLVM_BIN=$llvm_bin" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           echo "LLVM_SYS_211_PREFIX=$llvm_root" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           echo "LLVM_CONFIG_PATH=$llvm_config" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
-
           echo "WAVE_WINDOWS_MINGW_LIB=$(cygpath -w "$rust_mingw_self")" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
           echo "$llvm_bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
@@ -569,10 +521,16 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build and package
         shell: msys2 {0}
+        env:
+          PYTHONUTF8: "1"
+          PYTHONIOENCODING: "utf-8"
         run: python x.py release x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
 
       - name: Smoke test packaged compiler
         shell: msys2 {0}
+        env:
+          PYTHONUTF8: "1"
+          PYTHONIOENCODING: "utf-8"
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -583,23 +541,7 @@ jobs:
           unzip -q "$archive" -d "$temp_dir"
           package="$temp_dir/wave-v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu"
 
-          "$package/wavec.exe" -V > /tmp/wavec-version.txt 2>&1 || true
-          cat /tmp/wavec-version.txt
-
-          python - <<'PY'
-          from pathlib import Path
-          import sys
-
-          text = Path("/tmp/wavec-version.txt").read_text(errors="replace")
-
-          if "wavec " not in text:
-              print("missing packaged wavec.exe version output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-
-          if "backend: LLVM 21." not in text:
-              print("missing packaged LLVM 21 backend output", file=sys.stderr)
-              sys.exit(1)
-          PY
+          "$package/wavec.exe" -V 2>&1 || true
 
           printf 'fun main() { println("release smoke"); }\n' > "$temp_dir/smoke.wave"
           "$package/wavec.exe" run "$(cygpath -w "$temp_dir/smoke.wave")" | grep -Fx "release smoke"