diff --git a/.goreleaser.yml b/.goreleaser.yml
index f3f8d6be7..40bee8674 100644
--- a/.goreleaser.yml
+++ b/.goreleaser.yml
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ builds:
       - -trimpath
     mod_timestamp: '{{ .CommitTimestamp }}'
     ldflags:
-     - "{{ .Env.CLIENT_LDFLAGS }}"
+     - "{{ .Env.CLI_LDFLAGS }}"
 
 signs:
   - id: rekor
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bbab4ef03..56e869968 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -30,23 +30,10 @@ RUNTIME_IMAGE ?= gcr.io/distroless/static
 # Set version variables for LDFLAGS
 GIT_VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --always --dirty)
 GIT_HASH ?= $(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
-GIT_TAG ?= dirty-tag
-DATE_FMT = +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ
-SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH ?= $(shell git log -1 --pretty=%ct)
-ifdef SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
-    BUILD_DATE ?= $(shell date -u -d "@$(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH)" "$(DATE_FMT)" 2>/dev/null || date -u -r "$(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH)" "$(DATE_FMT)" 2>/dev/null || date -u "$(DATE_FMT)")
-else
-    BUILD_DATE ?= $(shell date "$(DATE_FMT)")
-endif
-GIT_TREESTATE = "clean"
-DIFF = $(shell git diff --quiet >/dev/null 2>&1; if [ $$? -eq 1 ]; then echo "1"; fi)
-ifeq ($(DIFF), 1)
-    GIT_TREESTATE = "dirty"
-endif
 
 KO_PREFIX ?= gcr.io/projectsigstore
 export KO_DOCKER_REPO=$(KO_PREFIX)
-REKOR_YAML ?= rekor-$(GIT_TAG).yaml
+REKOR_YAML ?= rekor-$(GIT_VERSION).yaml
 GHCR_PREFIX ?= ghcr.io/sigstore/rekor
 GOBIN ?= $(shell go env GOPATH)/bin
 
@@ -54,10 +41,7 @@ GOBIN ?= $(shell go env GOPATH)/bin
 SWAGGER := $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/swagger
 GO-FUZZ-BUILD := $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/go-fuzz-build
 
-REKOR_LDFLAGS=-X sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/version.gitVersion=$(GIT_VERSION) \
-              -X sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/version.gitCommit=$(GIT_HASH) \
-              -X sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/version.gitTreeState=$(GIT_TREESTATE) \
-              -X sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/version.buildDate=$(BUILD_DATE)
+REKOR_LDFLAGS=-X sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/version.gitVersion=$(GIT_VERSION)
 
 CLI_LDFLAGS=$(REKOR_LDFLAGS)
 SERVER_LDFLAGS=$(REKOR_LDFLAGS)
@@ -69,7 +53,6 @@ Makefile.swagger: $(SWAGGER) $(OPENAPIDEPS)
 	@echo "# This file is generated after swagger runs as part of the build; do not edit!" > Makefile.swagger
 	@echo "SWAGGER_GEN=`find pkg/generated/client pkg/generated/models/ pkg/generated/restapi/ -iname '*.go' | grep -v 'configure_rekor_server' | sort -d | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $$//'`" >> Makefile.swagger;
 
-
 lint:
 	$(GOBIN)/golangci-lint run -v ./...
 
diff --git a/release/cloudbuild.yaml b/release/cloudbuild.yaml
index 2fc4c1258..2837eda11 100644
--- a/release/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/release/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ steps:
     echo "Checking out ${_GIT_TAG}"
     git checkout ${_GIT_TAG}
 
-- name: 'gcr.io/projectsigstore/cosign:v1.8.0@sha256:12b4d428529654c95a7550a936cbb5c6fe93a046ea7454676cb6fb0ce566d78c'
+- name: 'gcr.io/projectsigstore/cosign:v1.9.0@sha256:ef2d14e16dbb7786d8713e4898a8512e69ace4105f5b371a9c115ffcc3e85d84'
   dir: "go/src/sigstore/rekor"
   env:
   - COSIGN_EXPERIMENTAL=true
diff --git a/release/release.mk b/release/release.mk
index ab343bb5e..19dc18209 100644
--- a/release/release.mk
+++ b/release/release.mk
@@ -5,12 +5,12 @@
 # used when releasing together with GCP CloudBuild
 .PHONY: release
 release:
-	CLIENT_LDFLAGS="$(CLI_LDFLAGS)" SERVER_LDFLAGS="$(SERVER_LDFLAGS)" goreleaser release --rm-dist --timeout 60m
+	CLI_LDFLAGS="$(CLI_LDFLAGS)" SERVER_LDFLAGS="$(SERVER_LDFLAGS)" goreleaser release --rm-dist --timeout 60m
 
 # used when need to validate the goreleaser
 .PHONY: snapshot
 snapshot:
-	CLIENT_LDFLAGS="$(CLI_LDFLAGS)" SERVER_LDFLAGS="$(SERVER_LDFLAGS)" goreleaser release --skip-sign --skip-publish --snapshot --rm-dist
+	CLI_LDFLAGS="$(CLI_LDFLAGS)" SERVER_LDFLAGS="$(SERVER_LDFLAGS)" goreleaser release --skip-sign --skip-publish --snapshot --rm-dist
 
 ###########################
 # sign section