diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-artifacts.yml b/.github/workflows/release-artifacts.yml
index 07b8f468222e1f..ed5472504e5778 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-artifacts.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-artifacts.yml
@@ -39,11 +39,18 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           git checkout ${{ inputs.commit }}
 
+      - name: Set Perl environment variables
+        run: |
+          echo "PERL=$((where.exe perl)[0])" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Append -Encoding utf8
+          echo "OPENSSL_SRC_PERL=$((where.exe perl)[0])" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Append -Encoding utf8
+
       - name: Build
         id: build
         shell: bash
         run: |
+          # install all deps
           source .github/scripts/install-all-deps.sh ${{ runner.os }}
+
           source /tmp/env.sh
           echo "tag=$CI_TAG" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           eval "$(ci/channel-info.sh)"
diff --git a/storage-bigtable/Cargo.toml b/storage-bigtable/Cargo.toml
index fafacf0292da72..172a2d31fdcae0 100644
--- a/storage-bigtable/Cargo.toml
+++ b/storage-bigtable/Cargo.toml
@@ -36,15 +36,8 @@ tokio = { workspace = true }
 tonic = { workspace = true, features = ["tls", "transport"] }
 zstd = { workspace = true }
 
-# openssl is a dependency of the goauth and smpl_jwt crates, but explicitly
-# declare it here as well to activate the "vendored" feature that builds OpenSSL
-# statically...
 [target."cfg(not(windows))".dependencies]
 openssl = { workspace = true, features = ["vendored"] }
-# ...except on Windows to avoid having to deal with getting CI past a build-time
-# Perl dependency
-[target."cfg(windows)".dependencies]
-openssl = { workspace = true, features = [] }
 
 [lib]
 crate-type = ["lib"]