diff --git a/.github/workflows/java_pr.yml b/.github/workflows/java_pr.yml
index f7b90c729f..081a4f4274 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/java_pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/java_pr.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,11 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
-          submodules: 'true'
+          # pull_request_target runs the workflow in the context of the base repo
+          # as such actions/checkout needs to be explicit configured to retrieve
+          # code from the PR.
+          ref: refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/merge
+          submodules: recursive
       - name: Lint java
         run: make lint-java
 
@@ -23,7 +27,11 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
-          submodules: 'true'
+          # pull_request_target runs the workflow in the context of the base repo
+          # as such actions/checkout needs to be explicit configured to retrieve
+          # code from the PR.
+          ref: refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/merge
+          submodules: recursive
       - name: Set up JDK 11
         uses: actions/setup-java@v1
         with:
@@ -52,7 +60,11 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
-          submodules: 'true'
+          # pull_request_target runs the workflow in the context of the base repo
+          # as such actions/checkout needs to be explicit configured to retrieve
+          # code from the PR.
+          ref: refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/merge
+          submodules: recursive
       - name: Set up JDK 11
         uses: actions/setup-java@v1
         with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/java_release.yml b/.github/workflows/java_release.yml
index 24efac3583..f689f1fa23 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/java_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/java_release.yml
@@ -77,15 +77,18 @@ jobs:
           infra/scripts/download-maven-cache.sh \
           --archive-uri ${MAVEN_CACHE} \
           --output-dir .
-      - name: Build and push versioned images
+      - name: Build image
+        run: make build-${{ matrix.component }}-docker REGISTRY=${REGISTRY} VERSION=${RELEASE_VERSION}
         env:
           RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.release_version }}
           VERSION_WITHOUT_PREFIX: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.version_without_prefix }}
           HIGHEST_SEMVER_TAG: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.highest_semver_tag }}
-      - name: Build image
-        run: make build-${{ matrix.component }}-docker REGISTRY=${REGISTRY} VERSION=${RELEASE_VERSION}
       - name: Push image
         run: make push-${{ matrix.component }}-docker REGISTRY=${REGISTRY} VERSION=${RELEASE_VERSION}
+        env:
+          RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.release_version }}
+          VERSION_WITHOUT_PREFIX: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.version_without_prefix }}
+          HIGHEST_SEMVER_TAG: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.highest_semver_tag }}
       - run: |
           echo "Only push to latest tag if tag is the highest semver version $HIGHEST_SEMVER_TAG"
           if [ "${VERSION_WITHOUT_PREFIX}" = "${HIGHEST_SEMVER_TAG:1}" ]
@@ -93,6 +96,10 @@ jobs:
             docker tag ${REGISTRY}/${{ matrix.component }}:${VERSION_WITHOUT_PREFIX} ${REGISTRY}/${{ matrix.component }}:latest
             docker push ${REGISTRY}/${{ matrix.component }}:latest
           fi
+        env:
+          RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.release_version }}
+          VERSION_WITHOUT_PREFIX: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.version_without_prefix }}
+          HIGHEST_SEMVER_TAG: ${{ needs.get-version.outputs.highest_semver_tag }}
 
   publish-java-sdk:
     container: maven:3.6-jdk-11
diff --git a/java/serving/src/main/java/feast/serving/config/RegistryConfig.java b/java/serving/src/main/java/feast/serving/config/RegistryConfig.java
index 3e4c6b7298..38333dba16 100644
--- a/java/serving/src/main/java/feast/serving/config/RegistryConfig.java
+++ b/java/serving/src/main/java/feast/serving/config/RegistryConfig.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageOptions;
 import feast.serving.registry.*;
 import java.net.URI;
-import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
@@ -59,7 +58,7 @@ RegistryFile registryFile(FeastProperties feastProperties, ApplicationContext co
         return new S3RegistryFile(context.getBean(AmazonS3.class), registryPath);
       case "":
       case "file":
-        return new LocalRegistryFile(Paths.get(registryPath));
+        return new LocalRegistryFile(registryPath);
       default:
         throw new RuntimeException("Registry storage %s is unsupported");
     }