diff --git a/.appveyor.yml b/.appveyor.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index e33500d44fe..00000000000
--- a/.appveyor.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-environment:
-  AV_PROJECTS: 'c:\projects'
-  AV_BF_M2: 'c:\projects\m2'
-  AV_BF_SOURCE: 'c:\projects\bioformats'
-
-# Note that only Oracle JDK is provided.
-  matrix:
-    - java: 11
-      build: maven
-    - java: 1.8
-      build: maven
-    - java: 1.8
-      build: ant
-      ant_version: 1.10.1
-
-cache:
-  - '%AV_BF_M2% -> appveyor.yml'
-
-os: 'Visual Studio 2015'
-clone_folder: '%AV_BF_SOURCE%'
-clone_depth: 5
-platform: x64
-
-init:
-  - git config --global core.autocrlf input
-  - if [%build%] == [ant] appveyor-retry cinst -y ant --version %ant_version%
-  - refreshenv
-  - 'if [%java%] == [1.8] set "JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0"'
-  - 'if [%java%] == [11] set "JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk11"'
-  - PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
-  - 'if [%build%] == [maven] set "MAVEN_OPTS=-Dmaven.repo.local=%AV_BF_M2%"'
-  - 'if [%build%] == [ant] set "ANT_OPTS=-Dmaven.repo.local=%AV_BF_M2%"'
-
-build_script:
-  - tools\test-build %build%
diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3a7759e766f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+name: Build with Maven and Ant
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        java: [1.8, 11]
+        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up JDK ${{ matrix.java }}
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v1
+        with:
+          java-version: ${{ matrix.java }}
+      - name: Build with Maven
+        run: ./tools/test-build maven
+      - name: Build with Ant
+        run: ./tools/test-build ant
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f6471141a5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+---
+name: Build and publish packages
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - 'v*'
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up JDK 11
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v1
+        with:
+          java-version: 11
+      - name: Build artifacts
+        run: |
+          ./tools/test-build ant
+          ant release
+          ant docs
+      - name: Create and Upload Release Assets
+        run: |
+          set -x
+          assets=()
+          touch SHASUMS
+          touch MD5
+          for asset in ./artifacts/*; do
+            assets+=("-a" "$asset")
+            filename=$(basename -- "$asset")
+            sha=$(sha256sum $asset)
+            IFS=' ' read -r -a array <<< "$sha"
+            echo "${array[0]} $filename" >> SHASUMS
+            md5=$(md5sum $asset)
+            IFS=' ' read -r -a array <<< "$md5"
+            echo "${array[0]} $filename" >> MD5
+          done
+          assets+=("-a" SHASUMS)
+          assets+=("-a" MD5)
+          tag_name="${GITHUB_REF##*/}"
+          hub release create "${assets[@]}" -m "$tag_name" "$tag_name"
+        env: 
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
diff --git a/components/formats-api/test/loci/formats/utests/FormatToolsTest.java b/components/formats-api/test/loci/formats/utests/FormatToolsTest.java
index fea83375b26..08460bbbdc8 100644
--- a/components/formats-api/test/loci/formats/utests/FormatToolsTest.java
+++ b/components/formats-api/test/loci/formats/utests/FormatToolsTest.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 package loci.formats.utests;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import loci.common.Constants;
 import loci.formats.FormatTools;
 
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
 
+
 /**
  * Unit tests for {@link loci.formats.FormatTools}.
  */
@@ -262,6 +264,13 @@ public void testParseLength(String value, String unit, Length length) {
   
   @Test(dataProvider = "fileLists")
   public void testGetRequiredDirectories(String[] files, int number) {
-    assertEquals(number, FormatTools.getRequiredDirectories(files));
+    String[] newfiles = null;
+    if (files != null) {
+      newfiles = new String[files.length];
+      for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
+        newfiles[i] = files[i].replace('/', File.separatorChar);
+      }
+    }
+    assertEquals(number, FormatTools.getRequiredDirectories(newfiles));
   }
 }
diff --git a/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/UpgradeChecker.java b/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/UpgradeChecker.java
index f487f0820d6..57c5de64c69 100644
--- a/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/UpgradeChecker.java
+++ b/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/UpgradeChecker.java
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ public class UpgradeChecker {
   // -- Constants --
 
   /** Version number of the latest stable release. */
+  /**
+   * @deprecated  As of release 6.6.0
+   */
   public static final String STABLE_VERSION = "6.5.1";
 
   /** Location of the OME continuous integration server. */
@@ -85,7 +88,7 @@ public class UpgradeChecker {
    * Location of the JAR artifacts for the stable releases.
    */
   public static final String STABLE_BUILD =
-    "http://downloads.openmicroscopy.org/bio-formats/" +  STABLE_VERSION + "/artifacts/";
+    "http://downloads.openmicroscopy.org/bio-formats/latest/artifacts/";
 
   /** Name of the ueber tools JAR. */
   public static final String TOOLS = "bioformats_package.jar";
diff --git a/tools/bump_maven_version.py b/tools/bump_maven_version.py
index ae143167dd3..56256323b98 100755
--- a/tools/bump_maven_version.py
+++ b/tools/bump_maven_version.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 def check_version_format(version):
     """Check format of version number"""
-    pattern = '^[0-9]+[\.][0-9]+[\.][0-9]+(\-.+)*$'
+    pattern = r'^[0-9]+[\.][0-9]+[\.][0-9]+(\-.+)*$'
     return re.match(pattern, version) is not None
 
 
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ def check_version_format(version):
     ".*<artifactId>pom-bio-formats</artifactId>\n"
     ".*<version>).*(</version>)")
 
+
 class Replacer(object):
 
     def __init__(self, old_group="ome", new_group="ome"):
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ def bump_stable_version(self, version):
     ns = parser.parse_args()
 
     if not check_version_format(ns.version):
-        print "Invalid version format"
+        print("Invalid version format")
         sys.exit(1)
 
     replacer = Replacer(old_group=ns.old_group, new_group=ns.new_group)
diff --git a/tools/source-archive.py b/tools/source-archive.py
index 1a6e7b50315..85544543af7 100755
--- a/tools/source-archive.py
+++ b/tools/source-archive.py
@@ -6,10 +6,8 @@
 import os
 from subprocess import call
 import sys
-import time
 import zipfile
 import tarfile
-import StringIO
 import platform
 
 # This script archives the base tree and repacks it into a single zip which is
@@ -163,7 +161,7 @@
     basetar.close()
     try:
         call(['xz', "%s/%s.tar" % (options.target, prefix)])
-    except:
+    except Exception:
         # This is expected to fail on Windows when xz is unavailable,
         # but is always an error on all other platforms.
         if platform.system() != 'Windows':