diff --git a/build/release/teamcity-make-and-publish-build.sh b/build/release/teamcity-make-and-publish-build.sh
index a4a682357ea8..33fecd0c2362 100755
--- a/build/release/teamcity-make-and-publish-build.sh
+++ b/build/release/teamcity-make-and-publish-build.sh
@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ export BUILDER_HIDE_GOPATH_SRC=1
 
 build/builder.sh make .buildinfo/tag
 build_name="${TAG_NAME:-$(cat .buildinfo/tag)}"
-release_branch="$(echo "$build_name" | grep -Eo "^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+")"
-is_custom_build="$(echo "$TC_BUILD_BRANCH" | grep -Eo "^custombuild-")"
+
+# On no match, `grep -Eo` returns 1. `|| echo""` makes the script not error.
+release_branch="$(echo "$build_name" | grep -Eo "^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+" || echo"")"
+is_custom_build="$(echo "$TC_BUILD_BRANCH" | grep -Eo "^custombuild-" || echo "")"
 
 if [[ -z "${DRY_RUN}" ]] ; then
   bucket="${BUCKET-cockroach-builds}"
diff --git a/build/release/teamcity-mark-build.sh b/build/release/teamcity-mark-build.sh
index 59abaf64f962..c3fb1170de13 100755
--- a/build/release/teamcity-mark-build.sh
+++ b/build/release/teamcity-mark-build.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ source "$(dirname "${0}")/teamcity-support.sh"
 mark_build() {
   tc_start_block "Variable Setup"
   build_label=$1
-  release_branch="$(echo "$TC_BUILD_BRANCH" | grep -Eo "^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+")"
+
+  # On no match, `grep -Eo` returns 1. `|| echo""` makes the script not error.
+  release_branch="$(echo "$TC_BUILD_BRANCH" | grep -Eo "^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+" || echo"")"
 
   if [[ -z "${DRY_RUN}" ]] ; then
     google_credentials=$GOOGLE_COCKROACH_CLOUD_IMAGES_CREDENTIALS
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/sqlsmith.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/sqlsmith.go
index 8b4f2d593b45..d5e3fc3a6ad0 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/sqlsmith.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/sqlsmith.go
@@ -101,7 +101,11 @@ func registerSQLSmith(r *testRegistry) {
 		// We will enable panic injection on this connection in the vectorized
 		// engine (and will ignore the injected errors) in order to test that
 		// the panic-catching mechanism of error propagation works as expected.
-		setup += "SET testing_vectorize_inject_panics=true;"
+		// TODO(yuzefovich): this setting is only supported on master (i.e.
+		// after 20.2 version), so we need to gate it, yet we can't do so
+		// because 21.1 version hasn't been minted yet. We skip this check for
+		// now.
+		//setup += "SET testing_vectorize_inject_panics=true;"
 
 		conn := c.Conn(ctx, 1)
 		t.Status("executing setup")