diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 0a46cf3157..9a01cd5a96 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -201,6 +201,81 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           tox -e black-check,isort-check,pyupgrade,checks,import-timings,lint,pylint,mypy
 
+  build_test_release_artifact:
+    name: Build and Test Release Artifact
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python_version: [3.8]
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@master
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 1
+
+      - name: Use Python ${{ matrix.python_version }}
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python_version }}
+
+      - name: Cache Python Dependencies
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/pip
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('requirements-lint.txt') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-pip-
+
+      - name: Install Python Dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install -r requirements-ci.txt
+          pip install -e ".[build]"
+
+      - name: Build Release Artifact
+        run: |
+          python -m build -vv
+
+      - name: Set Environment
+        run: |
+          export PYTHONPATH=.
+          export VERSION=$(python -c "import libcloud ; print(libcloud.__version__)")
+          unset PYTHONPATH
+
+      - name: Verify Tarball Release Artifact
+        run: |
+          # Verify tarball file exists
+          export TARBALL_FILENAME="apache_libcloud-${VERSION}.tar.gz"
+
+          ls -la "dist/${TARBALL_FILENAME}"
+
+          cd dist/
+
+          # Unpack tarball and verify + run the tests
+          tar -xzvf "${TARBALL_FILENAME}"
+
+          cd "apache_libcloud-${VERSION}/" 
+          tox -epy3.8
+
+      - name: Verify Wheel Release Artifact
+        run: |
+          # Verify wheel file exists
+          export WHEEL_FILENAME="apache_libcloud-${VERSION}-py2.py3-none-any.whl"
+
+          ls -la "dist/${WHEEL_FILENAME}"
+
+          cd dist/
+
+          # Unpack wheel and verify + run tests
+          unzip "${WHEEL_FILENAME}" -d "wheel"
+          cd wheel
+
+          # Since wheel doesn't include those files, we need to manually copy them over from
+          # repo root so we can run the tests
+          cp ../../tox.ini .
+          cp ../../requirements-tests.txt .
+          tox -epy3.8
+
   build_test_docker_image:
     name: Build and Verify Docker Image
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9f79c16590..62e23cfe49 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ coverage.xml
 .idea
 dist/*apache-libcloud*
 dist/*apache_libcloud*
+dist/wheel
 docs/apidocs/*
 _build/
 apache_libcloud.egg-info/
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 67421d7f94..0000000000
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-global-exclude *.py[cod]
-global-exclude .pytest_cache
-include LICENSE
-include NOTICE
-include example_*.py
-include CHANGES.rst
-include README.rst
-include tox.ini
-include pyproject.toml
-include requirements-tests.txt
-include requirements-lint.txt
-include libcloud/data/pricing.json
-include libcloud/test/secrets.py-dist
-include demos/*
-include scripts/check_file_names.sh
-recursive-exclude libcloud/test secrets.py
-prune libcloud/test/secrets.py
-prune requirements-rtd.txt
-prune dist
-prune build
-prune contrib/
-prune docs/
-prune demos/
-prune integration/
-prune pylint_plugins/
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d89e53b564..8a4b0b6631 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -85,11 +85,37 @@ test = [
 ]
 
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
-where = ["./"]
-include = ["libcloud", "libcloud.test*" ]
+include = ["libcloud"]
+namespaces = false
 
 [tool.setuptools.package-data]
-"*" = ["*.json", "*.xml", "*.pub", "*.key", "*.pem", "*.crt", "*.csv", "*.txt", "*.html"]
+"*" = [
+    "LICENSE",
+    "NOTICE",
+    "example*.py",
+    "CHANGES.rst",
+    "README.rst",
+    "tox.ini",
+    "pyproject.toml",
+    "requirements-tests.txt",
+    "requirements-lint.txt",
+    "libcloud/test/secrets.py-dist",
+    "demos/*"
+]
+"libcloud.data" = [
+    "pricing.json"
+]
+"libcloud.test" = [
+    "*.json",
+    "*.xml",
+    "*.pub",
+    "*.key",
+    "*.pem",
+    "*.crt",
+    "*.csv",
+    "*.txt",
+    "*.html"
+]
 "libcloud.test.compute.fixtures.misc" = ["*"]
 "libcloud.test.dns.fixtures.worldwidedns" = ["*"]