diff --git a/.github/workflows/deployment.yml b/.github/workflows/deployment.yml
index 9e70e9a40..a261f0e17 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deployment.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deployment.yml
@@ -293,7 +293,34 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Verify built RPM package contents
         run: |
-          ls rpm-src/noarch
+          set -euxo pipefail
+          rpm_file="$(ls rpm-src/noarch/wp-cli-*.noarch.rpm)"
+          # The package must ship a launcher in the bin dir and the Phar in the data dir.
+          rpm -qlp "$rpm_file" | tee /tmp/rpm-files.txt
+          grep -qx '/usr/bin/wp' /tmp/rpm-files.txt
+          grep -qx '/usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar' /tmp/rpm-files.txt
+          # /usr/bin/wp must be the shell launcher that honors WP_CLI_PHP / WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS,
+          # not the Phar itself.
+          mkdir -p rpm-verify
+          ( cd rpm-verify && rpm2cpio "../$rpm_file" | cpio -idm )
+          test -x rpm-verify/usr/bin/wp
+          head -n1 rpm-verify/usr/bin/wp | grep -q '^#!/bin/sh'
+          grep -q '/usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar' rpm-verify/usr/bin/wp
+          test -s rpm-verify/usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar
+          # Run the extracted launcher through a probe standing in for PHP: it must
+          # forward WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS before the Phar and export WP_CLI_PHP_USED. The
+          # probe asserts and exits without needing the Phar at its installed path.
+          printf '%s\n' \
+            '#!/bin/sh' \
+            'case " $* " in' \
+            '  *" -d memory_limit=256M "*) : ;;' \
+            '  *) echo "WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS not forwarded: $*" >&2; exit 3 ;;' \
+            'esac' \
+            '[ -n "$WP_CLI_PHP_USED" ] || { echo "WP_CLI_PHP_USED not exported" >&2; exit 4; }' \
+            'exit 0' \
+            > /tmp/wp-cli-php-probe
+          chmod +x /tmp/wp-cli-php-probe
+          WP_CLI_PHP=/tmp/wp-cli-php-probe WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS="-d memory_limit=256M" rpm-verify/usr/bin/wp cli version
 
       - name: Copy RPM package into builds folder
         run: |
@@ -346,7 +373,40 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Verify built DEB package contents
         run: |
-          ls .
+          set -euxo pipefail
+          deb_file="$(ls php-wpcli*all.deb)"
+          # The package must ship a launcher in the bin dir and the Phar in the data dir.
+          dpkg-deb -c "$deb_file" | tee /tmp/deb-files.txt
+          grep -Eq ' \./usr/bin/wp$' /tmp/deb-files.txt
+          grep -Eq ' \./usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar$' /tmp/deb-files.txt
+          # Install the package and exercise the launcher (php ships on the runner).
+          sudo dpkg -i "$deb_file" || sudo apt-get install -f -y
+          test -x /usr/bin/wp
+          head -n1 /usr/bin/wp | grep -q '^#!/bin/sh'
+          test -s /usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar
+          # Default interpreter works.
+          wp --info
+          wp cli version
+          # A probe that stands in for PHP and asserts what the launcher forwarded:
+          # it must receive WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS before the Phar and inherit WP_CLI_PHP_USED.
+          printf '%s\n' \
+            '#!/bin/sh' \
+            'case " $* " in' \
+            '  *" -d memory_limit=256M "*) : ;;' \
+            '  *) echo "WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS not forwarded: $*" >&2; exit 3 ;;' \
+            'esac' \
+            '[ -n "$WP_CLI_PHP_USED" ] || { echo "WP_CLI_PHP_USED not exported" >&2; exit 4; }' \
+            'exit 0' \
+            > /tmp/wp-cli-php-probe
+          chmod +x /tmp/wp-cli-php-probe
+          # Proves WP_CLI_PHP selects the interpreter AND WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS reaches it.
+          WP_CLI_PHP=/tmp/wp-cli-php-probe WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS="-d memory_limit=256M" wp cli version
+          # A deliberately broken WP_CLI_PHP must actually be used: if it were ignored,
+          # this would still succeed. This is the regression guard for the whole fix.
+          if WP_CLI_PHP=/bin/false wp cli version 2>/dev/null; then
+            echo "WP_CLI_PHP was ignored by the launcher" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
 
       - name: Copy DEB package into builds folder
         run: |
diff --git a/utils/wp-cli-rpm.spec b/utils/wp-cli-rpm.spec
index 60c5f37fe..edfcd6cc2 100644
--- a/utils/wp-cli-rpm.spec
+++ b/utils/wp-cli-rpm.spec
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 Name:       wp-cli
 Version:    0.0.0
-Release:    2%{?dist}
+Release:    3%{?dist}
 Summary:    The command line interface for WordPress
 License:    MIT
 URL:        http://wp-cli.org/
 Source0:    wp-cli.phar
 Source1:    wp.1
+Source2:    wp
 BuildArch:  noarch
 
 %post
@@ -29,16 +30,24 @@ chmod +x %{SOURCE0}
 %build
 
 %install
-mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_bindir}
-install -p -m 0755 %{SOURCE0} %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/wp
-mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1
+install -d -m 0755 %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/wp-cli
+install -p -m 0755 %{SOURCE0} %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar
+install -d -m 0755 %{buildroot}%{_bindir}
+install -p -m 0755 %{SOURCE2} %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/wp
+install -d -m 0755 %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1
 install -p -m 0644 %{SOURCE1} %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/
 
 %files
 %attr(0755, root, root) %{_bindir}/wp
+%dir %attr(0755, root, root) %{_datadir}/wp-cli
+%attr(0755, root, root) %{_datadir}/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar
 %attr(0644, root, root) %{_mandir}/man1/wp.1*
 
 %changelog
+* Tue Jul 21 2026 Alain Schlesser <alain.schlesser@gmail.com> - 0.0.0-3
+- Install the Phar to %{_datadir}/wp-cli and ship a launcher at %{_bindir}/wp
+  so WP_CLI_PHP and WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS are honored.
+
 * Tue Dec 12 2017 Murtaza Sarıaltun <murtaza.sarialtun@ozguryazzilim.com.tr> - 0.0.0-2
 - Remove php requirements.
 - Update creating man page steps.
diff --git a/utils/wp-cli-updatedeb.sh b/utils/wp-cli-updatedeb.sh
index b04be32cc..09ab7bd12 100755
--- a/utils/wp-cli-updatedeb.sh
+++ b/utils/wp-cli-updatedeb.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,32 @@ Description: wp-cli is a set of command-line tools for managing
 EOF
 }
 
+dump_launcher() {
+    # Write the launcher script that selects the PHP interpreter (honoring
+    # WP_CLI_PHP and WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS) and runs the bundled Phar.
+    # Quoted heredoc delimiter keeps the variables literal.
+    cat > "$1" <<'LAUNCHER'
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# WP-CLI launcher for the Debian package.
+# Selects the PHP interpreter, honoring the WP_CLI_PHP and WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS
+# environment variables, then runs the bundled Phar.
+# See https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli-bundle/issues/1078
+
+if [ -n "$WP_CLI_PHP" ]; then
+	php="$WP_CLI_PHP"
+else
+	php="$(command -v php)"
+fi
+
+export WP_CLI_PHP_USED="$php"
+
+# WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS is intentionally unquoted so multiple arguments are split.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+exec "$php" $WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS /usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar "$@"
+LAUNCHER
+}
+
 set -e
 
 # Download the binary if needed
@@ -76,13 +102,18 @@ fi
 
 # content dirs
 [ -d usr/bin ] || mkdir -p usr/bin
+[ -d usr/share/wp-cli ] || mkdir -p usr/share/wp-cli
 
-# move phar
-mv ../wp-cli.phar usr/bin/wp
-chmod +x usr/bin/wp
+# install the Phar to a shared location and a launcher to the bin dir
+mv ../wp-cli.phar usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar
+chmod 0755 usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar
+dump_launcher usr/bin/wp
+chmod 0755 usr/bin/wp
 
 # get version
-WPCLI_VER="$(usr/bin/wp cli version | cut -d " " -f 2)"
+# The launcher hard-codes the installed /usr/share path, which does not exist
+# inside the staging dir yet, so invoke PHP against the staged Phar directly.
+WPCLI_VER="$(php usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar cli version | cut -d " " -f 2)"
 [ -z "$WPCLI_VER" ] && die 5 "Cannot get wp-cli version"
 echo "Current version: ${WPCLI_VER}"
 
@@ -94,7 +125,7 @@ if ! [ -r usr/share/man/man1/wp.1.gz ]; then
     mkdir -p usr/share/man/man1 &> /dev/null
     {
         echo '.TH "WP" "1"'
-        usr/bin/wp --help
+        php usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar --help
     } \
         | sed 's/^\([A-Z ]\+\)$/.SH "\1"/' \
         | sed 's/^  wp$/wp \\- A command line interface for WordPress/' \
diff --git a/utils/wp-cli-updaterpm.sh b/utils/wp-cli-updaterpm.sh
index e4697be53..3c571d25c 100755
--- a/utils/wp-cli-updaterpm.sh
+++ b/utils/wp-cli-updaterpm.sh
@@ -45,6 +45,30 @@ pushd "$SOURCE_DIR" > /dev/null
 mv ../wp-cli.phar wp-cli.phar
 cp ../wp-cli-rpm.spec wp-cli.spec
 
+# Write the launcher script that selects the PHP interpreter (honoring
+# WP_CLI_PHP and WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS) and runs the bundled Phar.
+# Quoted heredoc delimiter keeps the variables literal.
+cat > wp <<'LAUNCHER'
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# WP-CLI launcher for the RPM package.
+# Selects the PHP interpreter, honoring the WP_CLI_PHP and WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS
+# environment variables, then runs the bundled Phar.
+# See https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli-bundle/issues/1078
+
+if [ -n "$WP_CLI_PHP" ]; then
+	php="$WP_CLI_PHP"
+else
+	php="$(command -v php)"
+fi
+
+export WP_CLI_PHP_USED="$php"
+
+# WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS is intentionally unquoted so multiple arguments are split.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+exec "$php" $WP_CLI_PHP_ARGS /usr/share/wp-cli/wp-cli.phar "$@"
+LAUNCHER
+
 # Replace version placeholder
 WPCLI_VER="$(php wp-cli.phar cli version | cut -d " " -f 2)"
 if [ -z "$WPCLI_VER" ]; then
@@ -52,7 +76,9 @@ if [ -z "$WPCLI_VER" ]; then
 fi
 echo "Current version: ${WPCLI_VER}"
 sed -i -e "s/^Version: .*\$/Version:    ${WPCLI_VER}/" wp-cli.spec || die 4 "Version update failed"
-sed -i -e "s/^\(\* .*\) 0\.0\.0-1\$/\1 ${WPCLI_VER}-1/" wp-cli.spec || die 5 "Changleog update failed"
+# Rewrite the placeholder version in every changelog entry (0.0.0-N -> ${WPCLI_VER}-N)
+# so the top entry stays coherent with the package version for rpmlint.
+sed -i -e "s/^\(\* .*\) 0\.0\.0-\([0-9]\+\)\$/\1 ${WPCLI_VER}-\2/" wp-cli.spec || die 5 "Changelog update failed"
 
 # Create man page
 {