diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5a67bec..7fde343 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -62,3 +62,5 @@
 /bootc-1.15.2.tar.zstd
 /bootc-1.16.2.tar.zstd
 /bootc-1.16.2-vendor.tar.zstd
+/bootc-1.16.5.tar.zstd
+/bootc-1.16.5-vendor.tar.zstd
diff --git a/bootc.spec b/bootc.spec
index 9aae9a9..c15c4e3 100644
--- a/bootc.spec
+++ b/bootc.spec
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 %endif
 
 Name:           bootc
-Version:        1.16.2
+# Ensure this local build overrides anything else.
+Version:        1.16.5
 Release:        1%{?dist}
 Summary:        Bootable container system
 
@@ -111,8 +112,13 @@ cat vendor-config.toml >> .cargo/config.toml
 rm vendor-config.toml
 %else
 # Container build: source already at _builddir (/src), nothing to extract
-# RPM's %mkbuilddir creates a subdirectory; symlink it back to the source
+# RPM's %mkbuilddir creates a subdirectory; symlink it back to the source.
+# F45+ RPM also creates rpmbuild.env in the subdir that %build will source,
+# so preserve it before replacing the directory with a symlink.
 cd ..
+if [ -f %{name}-%{version}-build/rpmbuild.env ]; then
+    mv %{name}-%{version}-build/rpmbuild.env .
+fi
 rm -rf %{name}-%{version}-build
 ln -s . %{name}-%{version}-build
 cd %{name}-%{version}-build
@@ -213,6 +219,9 @@ fi
 %endif
 
 %changelog
+* Mon Jul 27 2026 imagebuilder-bot <imagebuilder-bots+imagebuilder-bot@redhat.com> - 1.16.5-1
+- New upstream release
+
 * Wed Jun 24 2026 Joseph Marrero <jmarrero@fedoraproject.org> - 1.16.2-1
 - Update to 1.16.2
 - https://github.com/bootc-dev/bootc/releases/tag/v1.16.2
diff --git a/sources b/sources
index 56dd55b..a2b3eb2 100644
--- a/sources
+++ b/sources
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-SHA512 (bootc-1.16.2.tar.zstd) = bea618e03cbc0fa6b6876a2e4e69d8181c89b90bec8284748150386ce774ae84471d67edb0d26cbe2d21f4f32ebb7d6ca7a0158891c26a60bdaf1d30af0659d2
-SHA512 (bootc-1.16.2-vendor.tar.zstd) = 734b18deadf34ba30b246b06257f8f62aff373e9fa299f8e8b8b3d0c6cd1d203357efd5f31093dfe9ced231f68c3472b5b306e4d526cbe8f0ad9f9ba7e6d4702
+SHA512 (bootc-1.16.5.tar.zstd) = 98ba3c6f8fcab6b9ed51ae2978c868cb61ecefed062d925ab2f4d0953809e14c5ae1b153ef2bd62b9ca6e4bdf32190c66108172831d9dd66aac991ca7ddfcbfc
+SHA512 (bootc-1.16.5-vendor.tar.zstd) = 970b57f643aef5c5b5f5650410ccb34a4f9c106bea6fd5f1ad5b1bd2e9196730be255306036f1ed6b3a97fdadef054b657f6b5e8e1057dc2056cd53231c0ee59