diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3f7f95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+ES_VERSION=7.17.28
+PLUGIN_VERSION=7.17.28.0
+JAVA_COMPILER_VERSION=17
+GRADLE_VERSION=8.10.2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12f5395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+name: Build
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout sources
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - name: Setup Java
+      uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+      with:
+        distribution: 'temurin'
+        java-version: 17
+    - name: Setup Gradle
+      uses: gradle/actions/setup-gradle@v4
+    - name: Build with Gradle
+      run: ./gradlew build
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1bfa814..0f2c7a4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,6 +25,19 @@ Built with Java 17 and Gradle 8.10.2.
 
 The first 3 digits of plugin version is Elasticsearch versioning. The last digit is used for plugin versioning under an elasticsearch version.
 
+
+Upgrade the plugin
+------------
+
+In order to upgrade the plugin, one can simply run for example `./prepare-version.sh 7.17.28`. It will:
+- fetch dependencies versions form Elasticsearch internals
+- upgrade the configuration files
+
+You can then run `./build.sh` that will build the plugin in a docker container using gradle.
+If successful, the plugin will be available in `./build/distributions/` (under the name `pathhierarchy-aggregation-7.17.28.0.zip` in this example).
+
+
+
 Development Environment Setup
 ------------
 
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 34296fc..19a82d5 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ repositories {
 group = 'org.elasticsearch.plugin'
 version = "${plugin_version}"
 
+def versions = org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties.versions
+
 apply plugin: 'java'
 apply plugin: 'idea'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.esplugin'
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ esplugin {
 dependencies {
     implementation "org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch:${es_version}"
     yamlRestTestImplementation "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${es_version}"
-    yamlRestTestImplementation "org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-core:2.17.1"
+    yamlRestTestImplementation "org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-core:${versions.log4j}"
 }
 
 tasks.named("yamlRestTest").configure {
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..86323ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# helper script that runs the build script inside a gradle based docker container
+
+source .env
+
+echo "GRADLE_VERSION ${GRADLE_VERSION}"
+
+docker run --rm \
+  -v .:/opt/gen \
+  -w /opt/gen \
+  -u gradle \
+  gradle:${GRADLE_VERSION} ./gradlew build
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index ec4c3f4..9054f8a 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ services:
       context: .
       dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile
       target: elasticsearch-plugin-debug
+      args:
+        ES_VERSION: ${ES_VERSION}
+        PLUGIN_VERSION: ${PLUGIN_VERSION}
+        PLUGIN_FILENAME: pathhierarchy-aggregation-${PLUGIN_VERSION}.zip
     environment:
       - discovery.type=single-node
       # NO DEBUG
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 9533fd3..03ea8c6 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
-FROM docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.17.28 AS elasticsearch-plugin-debug
+ARG ES_VERSION
+ARG PLUGIN_FILENAME
 
-COPY /build/distributions/pathhierarchy-aggregation-7.17.28.0.zip /tmp/pathhierarchy-aggregation-7.17.28.0.zip
-RUN ./bin/elasticsearch-plugin install file:/tmp/pathhierarchy-aggregation-7.17.28.0.zip
+FROM docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:${ES_VERSION} AS elasticsearch-plugin-debug
+
+COPY build/distributions/${PLUGIN_FILENAME} /tmp/${PLUGIN_FILENAME}
+
+# mandatory because docker ARG is scoped to stage (forgotten after the FROM scope above...!)
+ARG PLUGIN_FILENAME
+# madantory because ARGS cannot be used inside RUN shell
+ENV PLUGIN_FILENAME=${PLUGIN_FILENAME}
+RUN ./bin/elasticsearch-plugin install --batch file:/tmp/${PLUGIN_FILENAME}
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index afba109..a4b76b9 100644
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 5c40527..df97d72 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@ distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
 distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.10.2-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
+validateDistributionUrl=true
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
index 65dcd68..f5feea6 100755
--- a/gradlew
+++ b/gradlew
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
 
 ##############################################################################
 #
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@
 #       Darwin, MinGW, and NonStop.
 #
 #   (3) This script is generated from the Groovy template
-#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/subprojects/plugins/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
+#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/platforms/jvm/plugins-application/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
 #       within the Gradle project.
 #
 #       You can find Gradle at https://github.com/gradle/gradle/.
@@ -83,10 +85,9 @@ done
 # This is normally unused
 # shellcheck disable=SC2034
 APP_BASE_NAME=${0##*/}
-APP_HOME=$( cd "${APP_HOME:-./}" && pwd -P ) || exit
-
-# Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
-DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
+# Discard cd standard output in case $CDPATH is set (https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/25036)
+APP_HOME=$( cd -P "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && printf '%s
+' "$PWD" ) || exit
 
 # Use the maximum available, or set MAX_FD != -1 to use that value.
 MAX_FD=maximum
@@ -133,10 +134,13 @@ location of your Java installation."
     fi
 else
     JAVACMD=java
-    which java >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
+    if ! command -v java >/dev/null 2>&1
+    then
+        die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
 
 Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
 location of your Java installation."
+    fi
 fi
 
 # Increase the maximum file descriptors if we can.
@@ -144,7 +148,7 @@ if ! "$cygwin" && ! "$darwin" && ! "$nonstop" ; then
     case $MAX_FD in #(
       max*)
         # In POSIX sh, ulimit -H is undefined. That's why the result is checked to see if it worked.
-        # shellcheck disable=SC3045 
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039,SC3045
         MAX_FD=$( ulimit -H -n ) ||
             warn "Could not query maximum file descriptor limit"
     esac
@@ -152,7 +156,7 @@ if ! "$cygwin" && ! "$darwin" && ! "$nonstop" ; then
       '' | soft) :;; #(
       *)
         # In POSIX sh, ulimit -n is undefined. That's why the result is checked to see if it worked.
-        # shellcheck disable=SC3045 
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039,SC3045
         ulimit -n "$MAX_FD" ||
             warn "Could not set maximum file descriptor limit to $MAX_FD"
     esac
@@ -197,11 +201,15 @@ if "$cygwin" || "$msys" ; then
     done
 fi
 
-# Collect all arguments for the java command;
-#   * $DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, $JAVA_OPTS, and $GRADLE_OPTS can contain fragments of
-#     shell script including quotes and variable substitutions, so put them in
-#     double quotes to make sure that they get re-expanded; and
-#   * put everything else in single quotes, so that it's not re-expanded.
+
+# Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
+DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
+
+# Collect all arguments for the java command:
+#   * DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, and optsEnvironmentVar are not allowed to contain shell fragments,
+#     and any embedded shellness will be escaped.
+#   * For example: A user cannot expect ${Hostname} to be expanded, as it is an environment variable and will be
+#     treated as '${Hostname}' itself on the command line.
 
 set -- \
         "-Dorg.gradle.appname=$APP_BASE_NAME" \
diff --git a/gradlew.bat b/gradlew.bat
index 6689b85..9b42019 100644
--- a/gradlew.bat
+++ b/gradlew.bat
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 @rem See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 @rem limitations under the License.
 @rem
+@rem SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+@rem
 
 @if "%DEBUG%"=="" @echo off
 @rem ##########################################################################
@@ -43,11 +45,11 @@ set JAVA_EXE=java.exe
 %JAVA_EXE% -version >NUL 2>&1
 if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 goto execute
 
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH. 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
 goto fail
 
@@ -57,11 +59,11 @@ set JAVA_EXE=%JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe
 
 if exist "%JAVA_EXE%" goto execute
 
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME%
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME% 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
 goto fail
 
diff --git a/prepare-version.sh b/prepare-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1e2fb5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prepare-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Helper script to prepare a version of the plugin based on a specific elasticsearch version
+#
+# given the elasticsearch version as argument, it generates the needed configuration file to build the plugin
+
+[ -z "$1" ] && {
+    echo "1st argument should be the targeted elasticsearch version"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+ES_VERSION="$1"
+
+# retrieve version information from ES repository
+GRADLE_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/elasticsearch/refs/tags/v${ES_VERSION}/build-tools-internal/src/main/resources/minimumGradleVersion)
+JAVA_COMPILER_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/elasticsearch/refs/tags/v${ES_VERSION}/build-tools-internal/src/main/resources/minimumCompilerVersion)
+JAVA_RUNTIME_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/elasticsearch/refs/tags/v${ES_VERSION}/build-tools-internal/src/main/resources/minimumRuntimeVersion)
+
+PLUGIN_VERSION="${ES_VERSION}.0"
+
+echo "GRADLE_VERSION ${GRADLE_VERSION}"
+echo "JAVA_COMPILER_VERSION ${JAVA_COMPILER_VERSION}"
+echo "ES_VERSION ${ES_VERSION}"
+echo "PLUGIN_VERSION ${PLUGIN_VERSION}"
+
+echo "es_version = ${ES_VERSION}
+plugin_version = ${PLUGIN_VERSION}" > gradle.properties
+
+echo "ES_VERSION=${ES_VERSION}
+PLUGIN_VERSION=${PLUGIN_VERSION}
+JAVA_COMPILER_VERSION=${JAVA_COMPILER_VERSION}
+GRADLE_VERSION=${GRADLE_VERSION}" > .env
+
+docker run --rm \
+  -v .:/opt/gen \
+  -w /opt/gen \
+  -u gradle \
+  gradle:"${GRADLE_VERSION}" /usr/bin/gradle wrapper --gradle-version "${GRADLE_VERSION}" --distribution-type bin