diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 162776f..6ffb05c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ jobs:
             -w /src \
             -e VERSION="${VERSION}" \
             golang:1.26-alpine \
-            sh -c "apk add --no-cache gcc musl-dev zlib-dev make && \
+            sh -c "apk add --no-cache gcc musl-dev zlib-dev zlib-static make && \
                    make LDFLAGS='-linkmode=external -extldflags=-static' obitools"
           mkdir -p artifacts
           tar -czf artifacts/obitools4_${VERSION}_${{ matrix.output_name }}.tar.gz -C build .
diff --git a/pkg/obioptions/version.go b/pkg/obioptions/version.go
index 88d8fe8..e4ef0cd 100644
--- a/pkg/obioptions/version.go
+++ b/pkg/obioptions/version.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package obioptions
 // Version is automatically updated by the Makefile from version.txt
 // The patch number (third digit) is incremented on each push to the repository
 
-var _Version = "Release 4.4.26"
+var _Version = "Release 4.4.27"
 
 // Version returns the version of the obitools package.
 //
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
index c92e911..2e97d0a 100644
--- a/version.txt
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-4.4.26
+4.4.27