diff --git a/rpm/containers-common.spec b/rpm/containers-common.spec
index c36196641..1b081f3e8 100644
--- a/rpm/containers-common.spec
+++ b/rpm/containers-common.spec
@@ -98,11 +98,7 @@ not required by Skopeo.
 %prep
 %autosetup -Sgit -n %{repo}-%{version_no_tilde}
 
-# Fine-grain distro- and release-specific tuning of config files,
-# e.g., seccomp, composefs, registries on different RHEL/Fedora versions
-bash rpm/update-config-files.sh
-
-%build
+# Copy manpages to docs subdir in builddir to build before installing.
 cp %{SOURCE1} docs/.
 cp %{SOURCE2} docs/.
 cp %{SOURCE3} docs/.
@@ -113,6 +109,18 @@ cp %{SOURCE7} docs/.
 cp %{SOURCE8} docs/.
 cp %{SOURCE9} docs/.
 
+# Copy config files to builddir to patch them before installing.
+# Currently, only registries.conf and storage.conf files are patched before
+# installing.
+cp %{SOURCE10} shortnames.conf
+cp %{SOURCE13} registries.conf
+cp %{SOURCE14} storage.conf
+
+# Fine-grain distro- and release-specific tuning of config files,
+# e.g., seccomp, composefs, registries on different RHEL/Fedora versions
+bash rpm/update-config-files.sh
+
+%build
 mkdir -p man5
 for i in docs/*.5.md; do
     go-md2man -in $i -out man5/$(basename $i .md)
@@ -129,11 +137,11 @@ touch %{buildroot}%{_prefix}/lib/containers/storage/overlay-images/images.lock
 install -dp -m 700 %{buildroot}%{_prefix}/lib/containers/storage/overlay-layers
 touch %{buildroot}%{_prefix}/lib/containers/storage/overlay-layers/layers.lock
 
-install -Dp -m0644 %{SOURCE10} %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/containers/registries.conf.d/000-shortnames.conf
+install -Dp -m0644 shortnames.conf %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/containers/registries.conf.d/000-shortnames.conf
 install -Dp -m0644 %{SOURCE11} %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/containers/registries.d/default.yaml
 install -Dp -m0644 %{SOURCE12} %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/containers/policy.json
-install -Dp -m0644 %{SOURCE13} %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/containers/registries.conf
-install -Dp -m0644 %{SOURCE14} %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/containers/storage.conf
+install -Dp -m0644 registries.conf %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/containers/registries.conf
+install -Dp -m0644 storage.conf %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/containers/storage.conf
 
 # RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release already exists on rhel envs, install only on
 # fedora and centos
diff --git a/rpm/update-config-files.sh b/rpm/update-config-files.sh
index 38cd90b65..2275fa805 100755
--- a/rpm/update-config-files.sh
+++ b/rpm/update-config-files.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 set -exo pipefail
 
 ensure() {
+  if [[ ! -f $1 ]]; then
+      echo "File not found:" $1
+      exit 1
+  fi
   if grep ^$2[[:blank:]].*= $1 > /dev/null
   then
     sed -i "s;^$2[[:blank:]]=.*;$2 = $3;" $1
@@ -28,7 +32,6 @@ ensure storage.conf                 mountopt            \"nodev,metacopy=on\"
 
 ensure pkg/config/containers.conf   runtime             \"crun\"
 ensure pkg/config/containers.conf   log_driver          \"journald\"
-ensure pkg/config/containers.conf   compression_format  \"zstd:chunked\"
 
 # Enable seccomp support keyctl and socketcall
 grep -q \"keyctl\", pkg/seccomp/seccomp.json || sed -i '/\"kill\",/i \
@@ -55,6 +58,7 @@ fi
 # Set these on Fedora Rawhide (41+), RHEL 10+, and on all COPR builds
 # regardless of distro
 if [[ -n "$COPR" ]] || [[ "$FEDORA" -gt 40 ]] || [[ "$RHEL" -ge 10 ]]; then
+    ensure pkg/config/containers.conf   compression_format  \"zstd:chunked\"
     ensure storage.conf pull_options    \{enable_partial_images\ =\ \"true\",\ use_hard_links\ =\ \"false\",\ ostree_repos=\"\",\ convert_images\ =\ \"false\"\}
     # Leave composefs disabled
     ensure storage.conf use_composefs   \"false\"