diff --git a/elilo/mockbuild.pl b/elilo/mockbuild.pl
index f8d03f4..6e4aa32 100755
--- a/elilo/mockbuild.pl
+++ b/elilo/mockbuild.pl
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ my $repo_root  = abs_path("$script_dir/..");
 my $pkg_dir    = "$repo_root/elilo";
 my $spec_file  = "$pkg_dir/elilo-xcat.spec";
 
-my $source_url  = 'https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/elilo/elilo/elilo-3.14/elilo-3.14-all.tar.gz';
 my $source_file = '';
 my $work_dir    = '/tmp/elilo-xcat-mockbuild';
 my $mock_cfg    = '';
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ my $skip_install = 0;
 my $build_timestamp;
 
 GetOptions(
-    'source-url=s'   => \$source_url,
     'source-file=s'  => \$source_file,
     'work-dir=s'     => \$work_dir,
     'mock-cfg=s'     => \$mock_cfg,
@@ -38,7 +36,7 @@ GetOptions(
 die "Run as root (current uid=$>)\n" if $> != 0;
 die "Missing spec file: $spec_file\n" if !-f $spec_file;
 
-for my $bin (qw(wget mock rpmbuild rpm dnf file bash grep)) {
+for my $bin (qw(mock rpmbuild rpm dnf file bash grep)) {
     run("command -v " . sh_quote($bin) . " >/dev/null 2>&1");
 }
 
@@ -80,7 +78,6 @@ print "result_dir: $result_dir\n";
 print "log_dir:    $log_dir\n";
 print "mock_cfg:   $mock_cfg\n";
 print "mock_uniqueext: " . ($mock_uniqueext ne '' ? $mock_uniqueext : '(none)') . "\n";
-print "source_url: $source_url\n";
 print "source_file:$source_file\n";
 print "skip_install: $skip_install\n";
 
@@ -90,28 +87,23 @@ make_path($log_dir);
 print_step("Mock config check");
 run("mock -r " . sh_quote($mock_cfg) . $mock_uniqueext_opt . " --print-root-path >/dev/null");
 
-print_step("Prepare source archive");
-# The elilo source tarball is tracked in the repo, already normalized to an elilo/ top-level
-# tree. Re-downloading + normalizing rewrites $source_path IN PLACE -- and it lives in the
-# shared (NFS) checkout that BOTH arch build hosts (x86 + ppc) build against at the same time,
-# so the other host's concurrent elilo build can read it mid-rewrite and get a truncated
-# archive (intermittent "missing elilo top-level tree" failures). Use the tracked copy
-# read-only when it is already normalized; only fetch upstream if it is absent/unnormalized.
-my $have_normalized = 0;
-if (-f $source_path) {
-    my $top = capture(
-        "tar -tzf " . sh_quote($source_path) .
-        " 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^(\\./)?elilo/' | head -n1 || true"
-    );
-    $have_normalized = 1 if $top ne '';
-}
-if ($have_normalized) {
-    print "Using tracked normalized source archive (no upstream fetch, no shared write): $source_path\n";
-} else {
-    run("wget --spider " . sh_quote($source_url));
-    run("wget -O " . sh_quote($source_path) . " " . sh_quote($source_url));
-    normalize_source_archive($source_path, $version, $work_dir);
-}
+print_step("Verify tracked source archive");
+# Source0 (elilo-<ver>-source.tar.gz) is tracked in the repo, already normalized to an elilo/
+# top-level tree, and consumed directly by mock (--sources $pkg_dir below). There is nothing to
+# download: the old fetch re-derived this SAME tracked file and rewrote it IN PLACE. Because the
+# checkout is on a shared (NFS) mount that BOTH arch build hosts (x86 + ppc) build against at the
+# same time, that in-place rewrite raced the other host's concurrent elilo build -- it could read
+# the file mid-write and get a truncated archive ("missing elilo top-level tree" failures). We now
+# only READ the tracked file, so concurrent builds can never race on it. Fail loudly (do NOT
+# silently re-fetch) if the checkout is missing/broken -- that is repo corruption, not a fetch miss.
+die "Tracked elilo source missing: $source_path (incomplete checkout?)\n" if !-f $source_path;
+my $top = capture(
+    "tar -tzf " . sh_quote($source_path) .
+    " 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^(\\./)?elilo/' | head -n1 || true"
+);
+die "Tracked elilo source is not normalized (no elilo/ top-level tree): $source_path\n"
+    if $top eq '';
+print "Using tracked normalized source archive (read-only, no fetch, no shared write): $source_path\n";
 
 print_step("Verify spec assets");
 for my $asset (@spec_assets) {
@@ -253,7 +245,6 @@ exit 0;
 sub usage {
     return <<"USAGE";
 Usage: $0 [options]
-  --source-url URL      Upstream tarball URL (default: $source_url)
   --source-file FILE    Source filename stored in elilo/ (default: inferred from spec version)
   --work-dir PATH       Temporary work dir (default: $work_dir)
   --mock-cfg NAME       Mock config (default: <ID>+epel-10-<ARCH>)
@@ -302,49 +293,6 @@ sub parse_spec {
     return ($version, @assets);
 }
 
-sub normalize_source_archive {
-    my ($archive, $version, $work_base) = @_;
-
-    my $has_elilo = capture(
-        "tar -tzf " . sh_quote($archive) .
-        " | grep -E '^(\\./)?elilo/' | head -n1 || true"
-    );
-    return if $has_elilo ne '';
-
-    my $nested = capture(
-        "tar -tzf " . sh_quote($archive) .
-        " | grep -E '^(\\./)?elilo-$version-source\\.tar\\.gz\$' | head -n1 || true"
-    );
-    die "Downloaded archive does not contain elilo source payload: $archive\n"
-        if $nested eq '';
-
-    my $normalize_dir = "$work_base/source-normalize";
-    remove_tree($normalize_dir) if -d $normalize_dir;
-    make_path($normalize_dir);
-
-    run(
-        "tar -xzf " . sh_quote($archive) .
-        " -C " . sh_quote($normalize_dir) .
-        " " . sh_quote($nested)
-    );
-
-    my $nested_rel = $nested;
-    $nested_rel =~ s{^\./}{};
-    my $nested_path = "$normalize_dir/$nested_rel";
-    die "Failed to extract nested source archive: $nested_path\n"
-        if !-f $nested_path;
-
-    copy($nested_path, $archive)
-        or die "Failed to normalize source archive $archive: $!\n";
-
-    my $recheck = capture(
-        "tar -tzf " . sh_quote($archive) .
-        " | grep -E '^(\\./)?elilo/' | head -n1 || true"
-    );
-    die "Normalized source archive still missing elilo top-level tree: $archive\n"
-        if $recheck eq '';
-}
-
 sub print_step {
     my ($msg) = @_;
     print "\n== $msg ==\n";
diff --git a/ipmitool/mockbuild.pl b/ipmitool/mockbuild.pl
index 3afcb26..dbd9241 100755
--- a/ipmitool/mockbuild.pl
+++ b/ipmitool/mockbuild.pl
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Cwd qw(abs_path);
-use File::Basename qw(dirname basename);
+use File::Basename qw(dirname);
 use File::Copy qw(copy);
 use File::Path qw(make_path remove_tree);
 use Getopt::Long qw(GetOptions);
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ my $repo_root  = abs_path("$script_dir/..");
 my $pkg_dir    = "$repo_root/ipmitool";
 my $spec_file  = "$pkg_dir/ipmitool.spec";
 
-my $source_url = 'https://github.com/ipmitool/ipmitool/archive/refs/tags/IPMITOOL_1_8_18.tar.gz';
 my $source_file = '';
 my $work_dir = '/tmp/ipmitool-xcat-mockbuild';
 my $mock_cfg = '';
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ my $skip_install = 0;
 my $build_timestamp;
 
 GetOptions(
-    'source-url=s'   => \$source_url,
     'source-file=s'  => \$source_file,
     'work-dir=s'     => \$work_dir,
     'mock-cfg=s'     => \$mock_cfg,
@@ -38,7 +36,7 @@ GetOptions(
 die "Run as root (current uid=$>)\n" if $> != 0;
 die "Missing spec file: $spec_file\n" if !-f $spec_file;
 
-for my $bin (qw(wget mock rpmbuild rpm dnf ldd bash)) {
+for my $bin (qw(mock rpmbuild rpm dnf ldd bash)) {
     run("command -v " . sh_quote($bin) . " >/dev/null 2>&1");
 }
 
@@ -80,7 +78,6 @@ print "result_dir: $result_dir\n";
 print "log_dir:    $log_dir\n";
 print "mock_cfg:   $mock_cfg\n";
 print "mock_uniqueext: " . ($mock_uniqueext ne '' ? $mock_uniqueext : '(none)') . "\n";
-print "source_url: $source_url\n";
 print "source_file:$source_file\n";
 print "skip_install: $skip_install\n";
 print "SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH: $SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH\n";
@@ -91,10 +88,22 @@ make_path($log_dir);
 print_step("Mock config check");
 run("mock -r " . sh_quote($mock_cfg) . $mock_uniqueext_opt . " --print-root-path >/dev/null");
 
-print_step("Download upstream source");
-run("wget --spider " . sh_quote($source_url));
-run("wget -O " . sh_quote($source_path) . " " . sh_quote($source_url));
-normalize_source_archive($source_path, $version, $work_dir);
+print_step("Verify tracked source archive");
+# The ipmitool source (ipmitool-<ver>.tar.gz) is tracked in the repo, already normalized to the
+# ipmitool-<ver>/ top-level that %setup -n expects, and consumed directly by mock (--sources
+# $pkg_dir below). There is nothing to download: the old fetch re-derived this SAME tracked file
+# and rewrote it IN PLACE, and the checkout is shared between the two arch build hosts building at
+# once -- so the in-place rewrite raced the other host's concurrent ipmitool build, which could
+# read the file mid-write and get a truncated archive. We only READ it now, so concurrent builds
+# can never race on it. Fail loudly (do NOT silently re-fetch) if the checkout is missing/broken.
+die "Tracked ipmitool source missing: $source_path (incomplete checkout?)\n" if !-f $source_path;
+my $top = capture(
+    "tar -tzf " . sh_quote($source_path) .
+    " 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^(\\./)?ipmitool-$version/' | head -n1 || true"
+);
+die "Tracked ipmitool source is not the expected ipmitool-$version/ tree: $source_path\n"
+    if $top eq '';
+print "Using tracked source archive (read-only, no fetch, no shared write): $source_path\n";
 
 print_step("Verify spec assets");
 for my $asset (@spec_assets) {
@@ -258,7 +267,6 @@ exit 0;
 sub usage {
     return <<"USAGE";
 Usage: $0 [options]
-  --source-url URL      Upstream tarball URL (default: $source_url)
   --source-file FILE    Source filename stored in ipmitool/ (default: inferred from spec version)
   --work-dir PATH       Temporary work dir (default: $work_dir)
   --mock-cfg NAME       Mock config (default: <ID>+epel-10-<ARCH>)
@@ -308,38 +316,6 @@ sub parse_spec {
     return ($version, @assets);
 }
 
-sub normalize_source_archive {
-    my ($archive, $version, $work_base) = @_;
-
-    my $normalize_dir = "$work_base/source-normalize";
-    remove_tree($normalize_dir) if -d $normalize_dir;
-    make_path($normalize_dir);
-
-    run("tar -xzf " . sh_quote($archive) . " -C " . sh_quote($normalize_dir));
-
-    my @entries = grep { $_ !~ m{/\.\.?$} } glob("$normalize_dir/*");
-    die "Unexpected archive layout in $archive\n" if @entries != 1;
-    my $top_path = $entries[0];
-    die "Unexpected non-directory top-level entry in $archive: $top_path\n"
-        if !-d $top_path;
-
-    my $expected_top = "ipmitool-$version";
-    my $actual_top = basename($top_path);
-    if ($actual_top ne $expected_top) {
-        my $new_path = "$normalize_dir/$expected_top";
-        run("rm -rf " . sh_quote($new_path));
-        run("mv " . sh_quote($top_path) . " " . sh_quote($new_path));
-    }
-
-    # Repack using the expected top-level directory required by the spec.
-    run(
-        "tar --sort=name --owner=0 --group=0 --mtime=\@$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH" .
-        " -C " . sh_quote($normalize_dir) .
-        " -czf " . sh_quote($archive) .
-        " " . sh_quote($expected_top)
-    );
-}
-
 sub print_step {
     my ($msg) = @_;
     print "\n== $msg ==\n";
diff --git a/syslinux/mockbuild.pl b/syslinux/mockbuild.pl
index cc320c1..d7bd499 100755
--- a/syslinux/mockbuild.pl
+++ b/syslinux/mockbuild.pl
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ my $repo_root  = abs_path("$script_dir/..");
 my $pkg_dir    = "$repo_root/syslinux";
 my $spec_file  = "$pkg_dir/syslinux-xcat.spec";
 
-my $source_url   = 'https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/syslinux-6.03.tar.xz';
 my $source_file  = '';
 my $work_dir     = '/tmp/syslinux-xcat-mockbuild';
 my $mock_cfg     = '';
@@ -21,11 +20,9 @@ my $mock_uniqueext = '';
 my $result_dir   = "$repo_root/build-output/list3/syslinux-xcat";
 my $log_dir      = "$repo_root/build-logs/list3/syslinux-xcat";
 my $skip_install = 0;
-my $skip_upstream_download = 0;
 my $build_timestamp;
 
 GetOptions(
-    'source-url=s'            => \$source_url,
     'source-file=s'           => \$source_file,
     'work-dir=s'              => \$work_dir,
     'mock-cfg=s'              => \$mock_cfg,
@@ -33,14 +30,13 @@ GetOptions(
     'result-dir=s'            => \$result_dir,
     'log-dir=s'               => \$log_dir,
     'skip-install!'           => \$skip_install,
-    'skip-upstream-download!' => \$skip_upstream_download,
     'build-timestamp=i'       => \$build_timestamp,
 ) or die usage();
 
 die "Run as root (current uid=$>)\n" if $> != 0;
 die "Missing spec file: $spec_file\n" if !-f $spec_file;
 
-for my $bin (qw(wget mock rpmbuild rpm dnf file bash grep cut)) {
+for my $bin (qw(mock rpmbuild rpm dnf file bash grep)) {
     run("command -v " . sh_quote($bin) . " >/dev/null 2>&1");
 }
 
@@ -90,10 +86,8 @@ print "pkg_name:   $pkg_name\n";
 print "version:    $version\n";
 print "mock_cfg:   $mock_cfg\n";
 print "mock_uniqueext: " . ($mock_uniqueext ne '' ? $mock_uniqueext : '(none)') . "\n";
-print "source_url: $source_url\n";
 print "source_file:$source_file\n";
 print "skip_install: $skip_install\n";
-print "skip_upstream_download: $skip_upstream_download\n";
 
 make_path($result_dir);
 make_path($log_dir);
@@ -101,21 +95,22 @@ make_path($log_dir);
 print_step("Mock config check");
 run("mock -r " . sh_quote($mock_cfg) . $mock_uniqueext_opt . " --print-root-path >/dev/null");
 
-if (!$skip_upstream_download) {
-    print_step("Download upstream source");
-    run("wget --spider " . sh_quote($source_url));
-    run("wget -O " . sh_quote($source_path) . " " . sh_quote($source_url));
-
-    my $sha = capture("sha256sum " . sh_quote($source_path) . " | cut -d ' ' -f1");
-    my $meta_file = "$log_dir/upstream-source.txt";
-    open my $mfh, '>', $meta_file or die "Cannot write $meta_file: $!\n";
-    print {$mfh} "url=$source_url\n";
-    print {$mfh} "file=$source_path\n";
-    print {$mfh} "sha256=$sha\n";
-    close $mfh;
-    print "Downloaded source: $source_path\n";
-    print "SHA256: $sha\n";
-}
+print_step("Verify tracked source archive");
+# The syslinux source (syslinux-<ver>.tar.xz, Source0) is tracked in the repo, has the
+# syslinux-<ver>/ top-level that %setup -n expects, and is consumed directly by mock (--sources
+# $pkg_dir below). There is nothing to download: the old fetch re-downloaded this SAME tracked file
+# and rewrote it IN PLACE, and the checkout is shared between the two arch build hosts building at
+# once -- so the in-place rewrite raced the other host's concurrent syslinux build, which could
+# read the file mid-write and get a truncated archive. We only READ it now, so concurrent builds
+# can never race on it. Fail loudly (do NOT silently re-fetch) if the checkout is missing/broken.
+die "Tracked syslinux source missing: $source_path (incomplete checkout?)\n" if !-f $source_path;
+my $top = capture(
+    "tar -tf " . sh_quote($source_path) .
+    " 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^(\\./)?syslinux-' | head -n1 || true"
+);
+die "Tracked syslinux source is not a syslinux-*/ source tree: $source_path\n"
+    if $top eq '';
+print "Using tracked source archive (read-only, no fetch, no shared write): $source_path\n";
 
 print_step("Verify spec assets");
 for my $asset (@all_assets) {
@@ -280,7 +275,6 @@ exit 0;
 sub usage {
     return <<"USAGE";
 Usage: $0 [options]
-  --source-url URL      Upstream tarball URL (default: $source_url)
   --source-file FILE    Source filename stored in syslinux/ (default: inferred from spec)
   --work-dir PATH       Temporary work dir (default: $work_dir)
   --mock-cfg NAME       Mock config (default: <ID>+epel-10-<ARCH>)
@@ -288,7 +282,6 @@ Usage: $0 [options]
   --result-dir PATH     Output RPM/SRPM directory (default: $result_dir)
   --log-dir PATH        Log directory (default: $log_dir)
   --build-timestamp EPOCH   SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH for deterministic builds
-  --skip-upstream-download  Skip wget download step
   --skip-install        Skip dnf install + smoke tests
 USAGE
 }