diff --git a/.buildbot.config.toml b/.buildbot.config.toml
index 1c68779eaf3..83fd549e06d 100644
--- a/.buildbot.config.toml
+++ b/.buildbot.config.toml
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ tools = ["cargo", "rustdoc"]
 [llvm]
 assertions = true           # Turn on assertions in LLVM.
 
-[install]
-prefix = "build/ykrustc-stage2-latest"
-sysconfdir = "etc"
+# `x.py install` is currently broken.
+# https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/80683
+#[install]
+#prefix = "build/ykrustc-stage2-latest"
+#sysconfdir = "etc"
diff --git a/.buildbot.sh b/.buildbot.sh
index 2bba3a0b84f..20d21fa255f 100644
--- a/.buildbot.sh
+++ b/.buildbot.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ TARBALL_TOPDIR=`pwd`/build/ykrustc-stage2-latest
 TARBALL_NAME=ykrustc-${STD_TRACER_MODE}-stage2-${COMMIT_HASH}.tar.bz2
 SYMLINK_NAME=ykrustc-${STD_TRACER_MODE}-stage2-latest.tar.bz2
 SNAP_DIR=/opt/ykrustc-bin-snapshots
+PLATFORM_BUILD_DIR=build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
 
 # Ensure the build fails if it uses excessive amounts of memory.
 ulimit -d $((1024 * 1024 * 10)) # 10 GiB
@@ -27,7 +28,12 @@ ulimit -d $((1024 * 1024 * 10)) # 10 GiB
 
 # Build extended tools and install into TARBALL_TOPDIR.
 mkdir -p ${TARBALL_TOPDIR}
-/usr/bin/time -v ./x.py install --config .buildbot.config.toml
+# `x.py install` is currently broken, so we use a workaround for now.
+# https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/80683
+#/usr/bin/time -v ./x.py install --config .buildbot.config.toml
+/usr/bin/time -v ./x.py build --stage 2 --config .buildbot.config.toml library/std rustdoc cargo
+cp -r ${PLATFORM_BUILD_DIR}/stage2/* ${TARBALL_TOPDIR}
+cp -r ${PLATFORM_BUILD_DIR}/stage2-tools-bin/cargo ${TARBALL_TOPDIR}/bin
 
 # Archive the build and put it in /opt
 git show -s HEAD > ${TARBALL_TOPDIR}/VERSION
diff --git a/.buildbot_patch_yk_dep.py b/.buildbot_patch_yk_dep.py
index f5a6e1e06d4..70ed9ddce36 100644
--- a/.buildbot_patch_yk_dep.py
+++ b/.buildbot_patch_yk_dep.py
@@ -24,7 +24,12 @@ def get_pr_no():
     proc = subprocess.run(["git", "log", "-1", "--pretty=format:%s"],
                           capture_output=True, check=True)
     line = proc.stdout.decode('utf-8')
-    assert line.startswith(('Merge #', 'Try #'))
+
+    # If the build is manual or forced from the web interface there may not be
+    # a bors merge commit, in which case we don't do any patching.
+    if not line.startswith(('Merge #', 'Try #')):
+        return None
+
     pr_no = line.split(" ", maxsplit=1)[1]
     pr_no = pr_no.rstrip(":")  # Colon present on 'Try' only it seems.
     assert pr_no.startswith('#')
@@ -69,13 +74,14 @@ def write_cargo_toml(git_url, branch):
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     pr_no = get_pr_no()
-    url, branch = get_yk_branch(pr_no)
-
-    # x.py gets upset if you try to patch the dep to the default path:
-    # "patch for `ykpack` in `https://github.com/softdevteam/yk` points to the
-    # same source, but patches must point to different sources"
-    if (url, branch) != (f"https://github.com/{SOFTDEV_USER}/{YK_REPO}",
-                         DEFAULT_BRANCH):
-        # For the sake of the CI logs, print the override.
-        print(f"Patching yk dependency to: {url} {branch}")
-        write_cargo_toml(url, branch)
+    if pr_no is not None:
+        url, branch = get_yk_branch(pr_no)
+
+        # x.py gets upset if you try to patch the dep to the default path:
+        # "patch for `ykpack` in `https://github.com/softdevteam/yk` points to
+        # the same source, but patches must point to different sources"
+        if (url, branch) != (f"https://github.com/{SOFTDEV_USER}/{YK_REPO}",
+                             DEFAULT_BRANCH):
+            # For the sake of the CI logs, print the override.
+            print(f"Patching yk dependency to: {url} {branch}")
+            write_cargo_toml(url, branch)