diff --git a/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-sim.sh b/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-sim.sh
index 8be45d7ca98d..9be29cc806c0 100755
--- a/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-sim.sh
+++ b/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-sim.sh
@@ -66,8 +66,11 @@ install_sim_noquic(){
 # and for the current branch code
 git worktree add -f "$BRANCH_DIR" HEAD
 
-latestReleaseCommit="$(git rev-list --exclude='*rc*' --tags --max-count=1)"
-latestReleaseTag=$(git describe --tags "$latestReleaseCommit")
+SCRIPTDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
+
+latestReleaseTag=$($SCRIPTDIR/../find-previous-release-tag.sh)
+latestReleaseCommit=$(git rev-list -n1 $latestReleaseTag)
+
 echo "Checking out latest release tag: $latestReleaseTag"
 git worktree add -f "$RELEASE_DIR" "$latestReleaseCommit"
 
@@ -82,8 +85,6 @@ cat > "$RELEASE_DIR"/private/version/release.go <<EOF
 package version
 EOF
 
-SCRIPTDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
-
 pushd $RELEASE_DIR
     install_sim_noquic "$RELEASE_DIR"/bin
 popd
diff --git a/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-up.sh b/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-up.sh
index 372b63274e93..1aff8b041124 100755
--- a/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-up.sh
+++ b/testsuite/backward-compatibility/start-up.sh
@@ -37,8 +37,10 @@ RELEASE_BIN="$STORJ_NETWORK_DIR/bin/release"
 # replace this with a standard go install once go allows install cross-compiled binaries when GOBIN is set
 # https://github.com/golang/go/issues/57485
 git worktree add -f "$STORJ_NETWORK_DIR"/branch HEAD
-latestReleaseCommit="$(git rev-list --exclude='*rc*' --tags --max-count=1)"
-latestReleaseTag=$(git describe --tags "$latestReleaseCommit")
+
+latestReleaseTag=$($SCRIPTDIR/../find-previous-release-tag.sh)
+latestReleaseCommit=$(git rev-list -n1 $latestReleaseTag)
+
 echo "Checking out latest release tag: $latestReleaseTag"
 git worktree add -f "$STORJ_NETWORK_DIR"/release "$latestReleaseCommit"
 pushd "$STORJ_NETWORK_DIR"/release
diff --git a/testsuite/find-previous-major-release-tag.sh b/testsuite/find-previous-major-release-tag.sh
index d63616845cfc..69c526f46fa8 100755
--- a/testsuite/find-previous-major-release-tag.sh
+++ b/testsuite/find-previous-major-release-tag.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -ueo pipefail
 
-# This script finds the previous major tag from the current HEAD position.
-
-closestHeadVersion="$(git describe --tags)"
-
-sortedTags="$(git tag --list --sort -version:refname)"
-
 verlte() {
     # sort and get the first result
     [  "$1" = "`echo -e "$1\n$2" | sort -V | head -n1`" ]
@@ -15,10 +9,32 @@ verlt() {
     [ "$1" = "$2" ] && return 1 || verlte $1 $2
 }
 
-closestZeroVersion="$(echo $closestHeadVersion | cut -d '.' -f 1-2).0"
+# This script finds the previous major tag from the current HEAD position.
+
+closest_head_version="$(git describe --tags)"
+
+sorted_tags="$(git tag --list --sort -version:refname)"
+
+# this is ugly, but we use this approach to detect whether we are
+# on a main branch, if that's the case, then we'll output the
+# latest release version.
+if [[ $closest_head_version =~ ^v1\.91\.0\-alpha ]]; then
+    for tag in $sorted_tags
+    do
+        if [[ "$tag" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo $tag
+            exit 0
+        fi
+    done
+
+    echo "did not find an appropriate release tag from main branch"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+closest_zero_version="$(echo $closest_head_version | cut -d '.' -f 1-2).0"
 
 IFS=$'\n'
-for tag in $sortedTags
+for tag in $sorted_tags
 do
     if [[ ! "$tag" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
         # it's not a proper version so ignore
@@ -26,7 +42,7 @@ do
     fi
 
     # the first less than our closest head should be our latest version
-    if verlt $tag $closestZeroVersion; then
+    if verlt $tag $closest_zero_version; then
         echo $tag
         exit 0
     fi
diff --git a/testsuite/find-previous-release-tag.sh b/testsuite/find-previous-release-tag.sh
index fad383221d31..e238883df4a1 100755
--- a/testsuite/find-previous-release-tag.sh
+++ b/testsuite/find-previous-release-tag.sh
@@ -1,32 +1,45 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -ueo pipefail
-
-# This script finds the previous tag from the current HEAD position.
-
-closestHeadVersion="$(git describe --tags)"
-
-sortedTags="$(git tag --list --sort -version:refname)"
+set -uo pipefail
 
 verlte() {
-    # sort and get the first result
+    # sort and check against the first result
     [  "$1" = "`echo -e "$1\n$2" | sort -V | head -n1`" ]
 }
 verlt() {
     [ "$1" = "$2" ] && return 1 || verlte $1 $2
 }
 
+# This script finds the previous tag from the current HEAD position.
+
+closest_head_version="$(git describe --tags)"
+
+sorted_tags="$(git tag --list --sort -version:refname)"
+
+# this is ugly, but we use this approach to detect whether we are
+# on a main branch, if that's the case, then we'll output the
+# latest release version.
+if [[ $closest_head_version =~ ^v1\.91\.0\-alpha ]]; then
+    for tag in $sorted_tags
+    do
+        if [[ "$tag" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo $tag
+            exit 0
+        fi
+    done
+
+    echo "did not find an appropriate release tag from main branch"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 IFS=$'\n'
-for tag in $sortedTags
+for tag in $sorted_tags
 do
-    if [[ ! "$tag" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
-        # it's not a proper version so ignore
-        continue
-    fi
-
-    # the first less than our closest head should be our latest version
-    if verlt $tag $closestHeadVersion; then
-        echo $tag
-        exit 0
+    if [[ "$tag" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+        # the first less than our closest head should be our latest version
+        if verlt $tag $closest_head_version; then
+            echo $tag
+            exit 0
+        fi
     fi
 done
 
diff --git a/testsuite/rolling-upgrade/start-sim.sh b/testsuite/rolling-upgrade/start-sim.sh
index d6a879bbe519..fcdc966d7cf7 100755
--- a/testsuite/rolling-upgrade/start-sim.sh
+++ b/testsuite/rolling-upgrade/start-sim.sh
@@ -54,9 +54,7 @@ git fetch --tags
 current_commit=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
 stage1_release_version=$(git tag -l --sort -version:refname | grep -v rc | head -1)
 if [[ $BRANCH_NAME = v* ]]; then
-    current_major_release_version=$(git describe --tags $current_commit | cut -d '.' -f 1-2)
-    previous_release_version=$(git describe --tags `git rev-list --exclude='*rc*' --exclude=$current_major_release_version* --tags --max-count=1`)
-    stage1_release_version=$previous_release_version
+    stage1_release_version=$($SCRIPTDIR/../find-previous-major-release-tag.sh)
 fi
 stage1_sat_version=$stage1_release_version
 stage1_uplink_version=$stage1_release_version