diff --git a/.github/workflows/template_build.yml b/.github/workflows/template_build.yml
index 5df5f0d3..75d3fe3c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/template_build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/template_build.yml
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup soldr
         id: setup-soldr
         # Canary exact setup-soldr main SHA before v0 promotion.
-        uses: zackees/setup-soldr@a71cd1c92c72f8effbe65862e1440e9627678189
+        uses: zackees/setup-soldr@dfbe9627f6cb0226716b61625b99a58949162720
         with:
           # cache-preset: foundation expands to:
           #   build-cache: true, target-cache: false,
diff --git a/bench/fastled-examples/src/build_comparison.rs b/bench/fastled-examples/src/build_comparison.rs
index fda6a7b8..2981462c 100644
--- a/bench/fastled-examples/src/build_comparison.rs
+++ b/bench/fastled-examples/src/build_comparison.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::ffi::{OsStr, OsString};
 use std::fs::{self, File};
 use std::io::{self, Write};
-use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::path::Path;
 use std::process::{Command, Output};
 use std::sync::Mutex;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
@@ -423,11 +423,11 @@ fn phase_medians(trials: &[BTreeMap<String, f64>]) -> BTreeMap<String, f64> {
 }
 
 /// Locate the compile DB fbuild wrote for env `uno`.
-fn find_compile_db(project_dir: &Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    fn search(dir: &Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+fn find_compile_db(project_dir: &Path) -> Option<NormalizedPath> {
+    fn search(dir: &Path) -> Option<NormalizedPath> {
         let candidate = dir.join("compile_commands.json");
         if candidate.is_file() {
-            return Some(candidate);
+            return Some(NormalizedPath::from(candidate));
         }
         let mut subdirs = fs::read_dir(dir)
             .ok()?
@@ -438,9 +438,9 @@ fn find_compile_db(project_dir: &Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
         subdirs.sort();
         subdirs.iter().find_map(|sub| search(sub))
     }
-    search(&project_dir.join(".fbuild/build/uno")).or_else(|| {
+    search(&fbuild_paths::get_project_build_root(project_dir).join("uno")).or_else(|| {
         let fallback = project_dir.join("compile_commands.json");
-        fallback.is_file().then_some(fallback)
+        fallback.is_file().then(|| NormalizedPath::from(fallback))
     })
 }
 
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ fn rewrite_compile_argv(argv: &[String], output: &Path) -> Vec<String> {
 
 /// Replay every compile DB entry with the bare compiler across `jobs` threads.
 fn raw_baseline_ms(entries: &[CompileEntry], jobs: usize) -> AppResult<f64> {
-    let temp = tempfile::TempDir::new()?;
+    let temp = tempfile::TempDir::new_in(fbuild_paths::temp_subdir("fastled-examples-bench"))?;
     let next = AtomicUsize::new(0);
     let failure: Mutex<Option<String>> = Mutex::new(None);
     let started = Instant::now();
diff --git a/crates/fbuild-build-engine/src/perf_log.rs b/crates/fbuild-build-engine/src/perf_log.rs
index b1b4efa7..dc145da9 100644
--- a/crates/fbuild-build-engine/src/perf_log.rs
+++ b/crates/fbuild-build-engine/src/perf_log.rs
@@ -29,8 +29,9 @@
 //! // auto-summary on drop
 //! ```
 
+use std::ffi::OsString;
 use std::io::Write;
-use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::path::Path;
 use std::sync::OnceLock;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
@@ -57,13 +58,12 @@ pub fn enabled() -> bool {
 ///
 /// Cached after the first call.
 pub fn json_sink_path() -> Option<&'static Path> {
-    static SINK: OnceLock<Option<PathBuf>> = OnceLock::new();
-    SINK.get_or_init(|| {
-        std::env::var_os("FBUILD_PERF_LOG_JSON")
-            .filter(|v| !v.is_empty())
-            .map(PathBuf::from)
-    })
-    .as_deref()
+    // Keep the raw value: lexical normalization would resolve `..` across
+    // symlinks and could open a different file than the caller named.
+    static SINK: OnceLock<Option<OsString>> = OnceLock::new();
+    SINK.get_or_init(|| std::env::var_os("FBUILD_PERF_LOG_JSON").filter(|v| !v.is_empty()))
+        .as_ref()
+        .map(Path::new)
 }
 
 /// Append `value` as a single JSON line to `path` (append + create).