diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b276d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+name: Build and run unit tests
+on:
+  push:
+  pull_request:
+
+  # Allows to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  publish:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+        with:
+          java-version: '11'
+          distribution: 'adopt'
+      - name: Build and run unit tests
+        run: mvn --batch-mode clean package
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 8636afe..b6d711b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
       packages: write
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      - uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
           java-version: '11'
           distribution: 'adopt'
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index b0734e4..5145fec 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -43,10 +43,10 @@
     <version.commons-collections4>4.4</version.commons-collections4>
     <version.commons-lang3>3.12.0</version.commons-lang3>
     <version.cucumber>7.11.1</version.cucumber>
-    <version.drools>8.35.0.Final</version.drools>
+    <version.drools>8.44.0.Final</version.drools>
     <version.jackson>2.14.1</version.jackson>
     <version.junit>5.9.2</version.junit>
-    <version.logback>1.4.4</version.logback>
+    <version.logback>1.4.14</version.logback>
     <version.maven-model>3.9.1</version.maven-model>
     <version.picocli>4.6.3</version.picocli>
     <version.semver4j>3.1.0</version.semver4j>
@@ -384,6 +384,12 @@
                   </manifestEntries>
                 </transformer>
               </transformers>
+              <artifactSet>
+                <excludes>
+                  <!-- jakarta.activation is already included so avoid warnings by excluding -api -->
+                  <exclude>jakarta.activation:jakarta.activation-api</exclude>
+                </excludes>
+              </artifactSet>
               <filters>
                 <filter>
                   <artifact>*:*</artifact>
@@ -391,7 +397,7 @@
                     <exclude>LICENSE</exclude>
                     <exclude>NOTICE</exclude>
                     <exclude>about.html</exclude>
-                    <exclude>module-info.class</exclude>
+                    <exclude>**/module-info.class</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/*.SF</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/*.DSA</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/*.RSA</exclude>