diff --git a/10.0/aspnet/Dockerfile.rhel9 b/10.0/aspnet/Dockerfile.rhel9
index 2203320e4..4570c4216 100644
--- a/10.0/aspnet/Dockerfile.rhel9
+++ b/10.0/aspnet/Dockerfile.rhel9
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ LABEL name="ubi9/dotnet-100-aspnet" \
       aspnet_version="$ASPNET_VERSION"
 
 USER 0
+# Don't clutter the app user's HOME
+ENV HOME=
 
 # Install packages:
 # - aspnetcore-runtime-*: provides the ASP.NET Core shared framework.
@@ -36,8 +38,7 @@ RUN [ "$IS_CI" == "true" ] || ( \
         dotnet --list-runtimes | grep "Microsoft.NETCore.App ${DOTNET_VERSION} " && \
         dotnet --list-runtimes | grep "Microsoft.AspNetCore.App ${ASPNET_VERSION} " )
 
-# Ensure we didn't add anything to HOME that is owned by root.
-RUN chown -R $APP_UID:0 /opt/app-root && fix-permissions /opt/app-root
-
 # Run container rootless.
 USER $APP_UID
+# Set HOME for the random uid that runs the s2i app on OpenShift
+ENV HOME=/opt/app-root
diff --git a/10.0/build/Dockerfile.rhel9 b/10.0/build/Dockerfile.rhel9
index c59053355..5bbd23dc3 100644
--- a/10.0/build/Dockerfile.rhel9
+++ b/10.0/build/Dockerfile.rhel9
@@ -7,11 +7,24 @@ ARG DOTNET_SDK_VERSION=10.0
 ARG IS_CI
 ARG DOTNET_TARBALL
 
-ENV PATH=/opt/app-root/src/.local/bin:/opt/app-root/src/bin:/opt/app-root/.dotnet/tools:${PATH} \
+# Expose the port in case the SDK image is used as a base image through s2i.
+EXPOSE 8080
+
+ENV \
+    # Add s2i bin dirs and .NET tools dir to PATH
+    PATH=/opt/app-root/.dotnet/tools:/opt/app-root/src/.local/bin:/opt/app-root/src/bin:/opt/app-root/bin:${PATH} \
+    # S2I
     STI_SCRIPTS_PATH=/usr/libexec/s2i \
+    DOTNET_APP_PATH=/opt/app-root/app \
+    DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD=default-cmd.sh \
+    # Don't generate a developer certificate
     DOTNET_GENERATE_ASPNET_CERTIFICATE=false \
+    # Don't download/extract docs for nuget packages
+    NUGET_XMLDOC_MODE=skip \
     # This skips the first time running text
     DOTNET_NOLOGO=true \
+    # Needed for the `dotnet watch` to detect changes in a container
+    DOTNET_USE_POLLING_FILE_WATCHER=true \
     # Like Microsoft images, provide the SDK version
     DOTNET_SDK_VERSION=$DOTNET_SDK_VERSION
 
@@ -31,10 +44,11 @@ LABEL name="ubi9/dotnet-100" \
 
 # Switch to root for package installs
 USER 0
+# Don't let root clutter the app user's HOME
+ENV HOME=
 
-# Each language image can have 'contrib' a directory with extra files needed to
-# run and build the applications.
-COPY ./contrib/ /opt/app-root
+# Helper scripts the user can call
+COPY ./root/usr/bin /usr/bin
 
 # Copy the S2I scripts from the specific language image to $STI_SCRIPTS_PATH.
 COPY ./s2i/bin/ /usr/libexec/s2i
@@ -42,15 +56,16 @@ COPY ./s2i/bin/ /usr/libexec/s2i
 # Install packages:
 # - dotnet-sdk--*: provides the .NET SDK.
 # - procps-ng: provides 'pidof' which is needed by the 'odo' Devfile to find the running 'dotnet' process.
+# - findutils: provides 'find' which is used by the 'fix-permissions' script.
 RUN [ -n "${DOTNET_TARBALL}" ] || ( \
-    INSTALL_PKGS="dotnet-sdk-10.0 procps-ng" && \
+    INSTALL_PKGS="dotnet-sdk-10.0 procps-ng findutils" && \
     microdnf install -y --setopt=tsflags=nodocs --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 $INSTALL_PKGS && \
     microdnf clean all -y && \
 # yum cache files may still exist (and quite large in size)
     rm -rf /var/cache/yum/* )
 # Tarball install (in the runtime base image)
 RUN [ -z "${DOTNET_TARBALL}" ] || ( \
-    INSTALL_PKGS="procps-ng" && \
+    INSTALL_PKGS="procps-ng findutils" && \
     microdnf install -y --setopt=tsflags=nodocs --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 $INSTALL_PKGS && \
     microdnf clean all -y && \
 # yum cache files may still exist (and quite large in size)
@@ -64,24 +79,22 @@ RUN [ "$IS_CI" == "true" ] || ( \
         printf "Checking SDK version ${DOTNET_SDK_VERSION} against:\n$(dotnet --list-sdks)" && \
         dotnet --list-sdks | grep "^${DOTNET_SDK_VERSION} " )
 
-# Directory with the sources is set as the working directory.
-RUN mkdir /opt/app-root/src
-WORKDIR /opt/app-root/src
-
 # Build the container tool.
 RUN /usr/libexec/s2i/container-tool build-tool
 
-# Since $HOME is set to /opt/app-root, the yum install may have created config
-# directories (such as ~/.pki/nssdb) there. These will be owned by root and can
-# cause actions that work on all of /opt/app-root to fail. So we need to fix
-# the permissions on those too.
-RUN chown -R $APP_UID:0 /opt/app-root && fix-permissions /opt/app-root
+# Run as the s2i assemble user
+USER $APP_UID
+# Set HOME for the random uid that runs the s2i app on OpenShift
+ENV HOME=/opt/app-root
 
-# Needed for the `dotnet watch` to detect changes in a container
-ENV  DOTNET_USE_POLLING_FILE_WATCHER=true
+# Create s2i directories used for sources and published app
+RUN mkdir -p /opt/app-root/src ${DOTNET_APP_PATH}
 
-# Run container rootless.
-USER $APP_UID
+# Trigger first run to create .NET SDK dirs and config files under $HOME.
+RUN dotnet help
+
+# Fix permissions on HOME for the random uid that runs the s2i app on OpenShift
+RUN fix-permissions /opt/app-root
 
-# Set the default CMD to start a shell.
-CMD /bin/bash
+# Use the s2i dir for sources as the working dir
+WORKDIR /opt/app-root/src
diff --git a/10.0/build/README.md b/10.0/build/README.md
index e2f97c41c..e318c8ecc 100644
--- a/10.0/build/README.md
+++ b/10.0/build/README.md
@@ -184,3 +184,9 @@ an `.s2i/environment` file inside your source code repository.
 * **DOTNET_SDK_VERSION**
 
     This variable contains the version of the SDK.
+
+* **DOTNET_APP_PATH,DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD**
+
+    These variables are used by source-to-image. `DOTNET_APP_PATH` is the directory that gets published to by the s2i `assemble` script.
+    The s2i `run` script makes it the working directory and then starts the script named `$DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD` (`default-cmd.sh`) in that directory.
+    That script is responsible for starting the .NET application.
diff --git a/10.0/build/contrib/etc/trust_ssl_dirs b/10.0/build/contrib/etc/trust_ssl_dirs
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b805e57c..000000000
--- a/10.0/build/contrib/etc/trust_ssl_dirs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-if [ -n "$DOTNET_SSL_DIRS" ]; then
-
-  echo "error: DOTNET_SSL_DIRS is no longer supported. Certificates can be trusted using SSL_CERT_DIR."
-
-fi
diff --git a/10.0/runtime/root/usr/bin/fix-permissions b/10.0/build/root/usr/bin/fix-permissions
similarity index 100%
rename from 10.0/runtime/root/usr/bin/fix-permissions
rename to 10.0/build/root/usr/bin/fix-permissions
diff --git a/10.0/build/s2i/bin/assemble b/10.0/build/s2i/bin/assemble
index 947e8d196..520fd3a8b 100755
--- a/10.0/build/s2i/bin/assemble
+++ b/10.0/build/s2i/bin/assemble
@@ -119,9 +119,6 @@ fi
 if [ "$BUILD_TYPE" == "source" ]; then
   echo "Using SDK: $(dotnet --version)"
 
-  # Print DOTNET_SSL_DIRS unsupported.
-  source /opt/app-root/etc/trust_ssl_dirs
-
   # dotnet tools
   if [ -n "${DOTNET_TOOLS}" ]; then
     # Build nuget sources list for when doing the restore
diff --git a/10.0/build/s2i/bin/run b/10.0/build/s2i/bin/run
index 0f64db84e..94081cbb5 100755
--- a/10.0/build/s2i/bin/run
+++ b/10.0/build/s2i/bin/run
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-# Print DOTNET_SSL_DIRS unsupported.
-source /opt/app-root/etc/trust_ssl_dirs
-
 if [ -n "${DOTNET_INFO}" ]; then
   /usr/libexec/s2i/container-tool info
 fi
diff --git a/10.0/build/test/run b/10.0/build/test/run
index 0e231963e..497dac001 100755
--- a/10.0/build/test/run
+++ b/10.0/build/test/run
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@
 # short image name such as 'foobar', or it may be a fully qualified name in the
 # form of example.com/project/repository/image@sha256:hashinhex
 #
-# ASPNET_IMAGE_NAME specifies the name of the runtime image used for split
-# builds. If blank or unset, it is computed automatically as the base image
-# used to build IMAGE_NAME.
-#
 # OPENSHIFT_ONLY environment variable, if 'true', only tests features used by
 # OpenShift's try-it feature.
 #
@@ -37,14 +33,6 @@ IMAGE_OS=${IMAGE_OS:-RHEL8}
 
 IMAGE_NAME=${IMAGE_NAME:-localhost/ubi9/dotnet-100}
 # Infer runtime image from SDK image when it is not explicitly set
-if [[ ${ASPNET_IMAGE_NAME:-} == "" ]]; then
-  if [[ $(podman images -n --filter reference="${IMAGE_NAME}") == "" ]]; then
-    podman pull "${IMAGE_NAME}"
-  fi
-  base_image=$(podman image history --format json "${IMAGE_NAME}" | jq -r '[.[].comment | select (. != null )][0]' | cut -d' ' -f2)
-  echo "${base_image}"
-  ASPNET_IMAGE_NAME="${base_image}"
-fi
 OPENSHIFT_ONLY=${OPENSHIFT_ONLY:-false}
 
 test_dir="$(readlink -f "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")"
@@ -128,6 +116,11 @@ test_image() {
   # This is to ensure it is provided as environment variables.
   assert_contains $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_SDK_VERSION) "$dotnet_version_series"
 
+  # DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD
+  assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD) "default-cmd.sh"
+  # DOTNET_APP_PATH
+  assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_APP_PATH) "/opt/app-root/app"
+
   # Verify $HOME != $CWD. See https://github.com/redhat-developer/s2i-dotnetcore/issues/28
   local working_dir=$(docker_run ${IMAGE_NAME} pwd)
   assert_equal "${working_dir}" "/opt/app-root/src"
@@ -149,6 +142,13 @@ test_image() {
   assert_contains "${certificate_stores}" "No such file or directory"
 }
 
+test_port() {
+  test_start
+
+  # Port 8080 is exposed (for s2i based apps)
+  assert_equal $(docker_get_exposedports $IMAGE_NAME) '{"8080/tcp":{}}'
+}
+
 test_consoleapp() {
   test_start
 
@@ -410,54 +410,6 @@ test_config() {
   test_config_3
 }
 
-test_split_build() {
-  test_start
-
-  # test openshift chained build
-  # see 'chaining builds' in the openshift docs
-
-  # this app has DOTNET_PACK=true
-  local app=asp-net-hello-world-envvar
-
-  local build_dir="${test_dir}/split_build"
-  rm -rf "$build_dir"
-  mkdir "$build_dir"
-  pushd "$build_dir" > /dev/null
-
-  # extract app.tar.gz from build
-  local image=$(s2i_build ${app})
-  local container=$(docker create ${image})
-  docker cp ${container}:/opt/app-root/app.tar.gz app.tar.gz
-  # cleanup
-  docker_rm ${container}
-  docker_rmi ${image}
-
-  # create image based on app.tar.gz
-  # we don't need to provide a CMD statement
-  # app.tar.gz has a default-cmd.sh which matches with the runtime CMD.
-  cat >Dockerfile <<EOF
-FROM ${ASPNET_IMAGE_NAME}
-ADD app.tar.gz .
-EOF
-  image=$(docker_build .)
-
-  # user to run the app (31002) is different than user that built the app (1001).
-  local run_user=31002
-  # start container
-  local container=$(docker_run_as_d ${image} ${run_user})
-  local url=$(container_url ${container})
-  # request
-  local response=$(curl_retry ${url}/)
-  # cleanup
-  docker_rm ${container}
-  docker_rmi ${image}
-
-  # app works
-  assert_equal "${response}" "Hello world"
-
-  popd > /dev/null
-}
-
 test_imagestream_sample() {
   test_start
 
@@ -606,10 +558,10 @@ test_msbuild_exec_task() {
 }
 
 info "Testing ${IMAGE_NAME}"
-info "Using runtime image ${ASPNET_IMAGE_NAME}"
 
 if [ ${OPENSHIFT_ONLY} != true ]; then
   test_image
+  test_port
   test_config
   test_usage
   test_default_cmd
@@ -621,7 +573,6 @@ if [ ${OPENSHIFT_ONLY} != true ]; then
   test_vb
   test_published_files
   test_aspnetapp
-  test_split_build
   test_templates
   test_user
   test_binary
diff --git a/10.0/runtime/Dockerfile.rhel9 b/10.0/runtime/Dockerfile.rhel9
index c9fd28bf7..2bd6e4dbb 100644
--- a/10.0/runtime/Dockerfile.rhel9
+++ b/10.0/runtime/Dockerfile.rhel9
@@ -5,19 +5,9 @@ ARG DOTNET_VERSION=10.0
 ARG IS_CI
 ARG DOTNET_TARBALL
 
-# This image provides a .NET 10.0 environment you can use to run your .NET
-# applications.
-EXPOSE 8080
-
-ENV HOME=/opt/app-root \
-    PATH=/opt/app-root/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin \
-    DOTNET_APP_PATH=/opt/app-root/app \
-    DOTNET_DATA_PATH=/opt/app-root/data \
-    DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD=default-cmd.sh \
+ENV \
     # Microsoft's images set this to enable detecting when an app is running in a container.
     DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \
-    # Don't download/extract docs for nuget packages
-    NUGET_XMLDOC_MODE=skip \
     # Configure ASP.NET Core to use the exposed port
     ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://*:8080 \
     # Like Microsoft images, set APP_UID to the UID of the non-root user.
@@ -39,13 +29,11 @@ LABEL name="ubi9/dotnet-100-runtime" \
       dotnet_version_major_minor="10.0" \
       dotnet_version="$DOTNET_VERSION"
 
-COPY ./root/usr/bin /usr/bin
-
 # Install packages:
 # - dotnet-runtime-*: provides the .NET shared framework.
-# - findutils: provides 'find' which is used by the 'fix-permissions' script.
+# - tar, gzip: enable installing vsdbg into the image for debugging.
 RUN [ -n "${DOTNET_TARBALL}" ] || ( \
-    INSTALL_PKGS="dotnet-runtime-10.0 findutils shadow-utils tar gzip" && \
+    INSTALL_PKGS="dotnet-runtime-10.0 tar gzip" && \
     microdnf install -y --setopt=tsflags=nodocs --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 $INSTALL_PKGS && \
 # ubi-minimal doesn't include timezones, restore them.
     ( microdnf reinstall tzdata -y || microdnf update tzdata -y ) && \
@@ -54,7 +42,7 @@ RUN [ -n "${DOTNET_TARBALL}" ] || ( \
     rm -rf /var/cache/yum/* )
 # Add .NET from a tarball for CI/development.
 RUN [ -z "${DOTNET_TARBALL}" ] || ( \
-    microdnf install -y tar gzip unzip shadow-utils libicu && \
+    microdnf install -y tar gzip unzip libicu && \
     ( microdnf reinstall tzdata -y || microdnf update tzdata -y ) && \
     curl "${DOTNET_TARBALL}" -o /tmp/dotnet.tar.gz && \
     mkdir /opt/dotnet && \
@@ -69,18 +57,10 @@ RUN [ "$IS_CI" == "true" ] || ( \
         dotnet --list-runtimes | grep "Microsoft.NETCore.App ${DOTNET_VERSION} " )
 
 # Add default user
-RUN mkdir -p ${DOTNET_APP_PATH} ${DOTNET_DATA_PATH} && \
-    useradd -u $APP_UID -r -g 0 -d ${HOME} -s /sbin/nologin \
-      -c "Default Application User" default
-
-WORKDIR ${DOTNET_APP_PATH}
-COPY default-cmd.sh ${DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD}
-CMD "./${DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD}"
-
-# In order to drop the root user, we have to make some directories world
-# writable as OpenShift default security model is to run the container under
-# random UID.
-RUN chown -R $APP_UID:0 /opt/app-root && fix-permissions /opt/app-root
+RUN useradd -u $APP_UID -r -g 0 -d /opt/app-root -s /sbin/nologin -c "Default Application User" default && \
+    install -d -m 0775 -o $APP_UID -g 0 /opt/app-root
 
 # Run container rootless.
 USER $APP_UID
+# Set HOME for the random uid that runs the s2i app on OpenShift
+ENV HOME=/opt/app-root
diff --git a/10.0/runtime/README.md b/10.0/runtime/README.md
index aa4c161ac..dd538730f 100644
--- a/10.0/runtime/README.md
+++ b/10.0/runtime/README.md
@@ -47,11 +47,6 @@ They must not to be overridden.
     This variable is set to `http://*:8080` to configure ASP.NET Core to use the
     port exposed by the image.
 
-* **DOTNET_APP_PATH,DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD,DOTNET_DATA_PATH**
-
-    These variables contain the working directory (`/opt/app-root/app`), the default CMD of the runtime image (`default-cmd.sh`)
-    and an empty folder you can use to store your application data (`/opt/app-root/data`) and make persistent with a volume mount.
-
 * **SSL_CERT_DIR**
 
     Used to specify a list of colon (`:`) separated directories with certificates to trust.
diff --git a/10.0/runtime/test/run b/10.0/runtime/test/run
index 2d2039b17..f44674291 100755
--- a/10.0/runtime/test/run
+++ b/10.0/runtime/test/run
@@ -47,16 +47,12 @@ test_dotnet() {
 test_envvars() {
   test_start
 
-  # DOTNET_APP_PATH
-  assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_APP_PATH) "/opt/app-root/app"
-  # DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD
-  assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_DEFAULT_CMD) "default-cmd.sh"
-  # DOTNET_DATA_PATH
-  assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_DATA_PATH) "/opt/app-root/data"
-
   # .NET determines culture based on LANG. It must be empty/unset to use the 'Invariant' culture
   assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME LANG) ""
 
+  # Expected PATH from the base image
+  assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME PATH) "/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
+
   # Like Microsoft images, we set this to 'true'
   assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER) "true"
 
@@ -93,13 +89,6 @@ test_default_cmd() {
   assert_contains_multiline "$processes" "/bin/bash"
 }
 
-test_data_folder() {
-  test_start
-
-  # check a writable data folder is available
-  assert_equal $(docker_run $IMAGE_NAME stat -c %a /opt/app-root/data) "777"
-}
-
 test_timezones() {
   test_start
 
@@ -120,11 +109,17 @@ test_user() {
   assert_equal $(docker_run_as $IMAGE_NAME 0 whoami)      "root"
 }
 
+test_workingdir() {
+  test_start
+
+  # Verify WORKING dir is '/', matching Microsoft images.
+  local working_dir=$(docker_run ${IMAGE_NAME} pwd)
+  assert_equal "${working_dir}" "/"
+}
+
 test_port() {
   test_start
 
-  # Port 8080 is exposed
-  assert_equal $(docker_get_exposedports $IMAGE_NAME) '{"8080/tcp":{}}'
   # The environment variable used by ASP.NET Core matches
   assert_equal $(docker_get_env $IMAGE_NAME ASPNETCORE_URLS) "http://*:8080"
 }
@@ -196,10 +191,10 @@ test_repos() {
 info "Testing ${IMAGE_NAME}"
 
 if [ ${OPENSHIFT_ONLY} != true ]; then
+  test_workingdir
   test_dotnet
   test_envvars
   test_default_cmd
-  test_data_folder
   test_timezones
   test_debuggable
   test_user