diff --git a/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt b/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt
index 90295b77..d1dfe071 100644
--- a/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt
+++ b/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 (?:[\\0][xX]|[uU]\+|#)[0-9a-fA-FgGrR]{2,}[uU]?[lL]{0,2}\b
 # avoid false positive
  -force$
+ --force$
 # flags
-(?!\w)-[fDW]
+(?!\w)-{1,2}[fDW]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 1f0f8293..fc28df60 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
     - name: fetch tags
-      run: git fetch --unshallow --tags --prune || true
+      run: git fetch --unshallow --tags --prune --force
     - name: make check
       run: make --keep-going all && MALLOC_CHECK_=7 MALLOC_PERTURB_=42 make --keep-going check
       shell: bash
diff --git a/GNUmakefile b/GNUmakefile
index a4c44f1a..de4488db 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile
+++ b/GNUmakefile
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ mdbx++-static.o: src/config.h src/mdbx.c++ mdbx.h mdbx.h++ $(lastword $(MAKEFILE
 dist: tags dist-checked.tag libmdbx-sources-$(MDBX_VERSION_SUFFIX).tar.gz $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))
 
 tags:
-	git fetch --tags
+	git fetch --tags --force
 
 release-assets: libmdbx-sources-$(MDBX_VERSION_SUFFIX).tar.gz libmdbx-sources-$(MDBX_VERSION_SUFFIX).zip