diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 1678c69..7ce0c85 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
-    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.7.10'
+    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.7.11'
     id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.0'
     id 'java'
 }
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ dependencies {
     implementation group: 'com.google.guava', name: 'guava', version: '31.1-jre'
 
     implementation 'org.apache.commons:commons-compress:1.23.0'
-    implementation 'com.github.luben:zstd-jni:1.5.4-2'  // Even though this is part for the above dependency, it is needed separately as well.
+    implementation 'com.github.luben:zstd-jni:1.5.5-1'  // Even though this is part of the above dependency, it is needed separately as well, specifically here, in the Worker.
 
     testImplementation 'org.springframework.security:spring-security-test'
     testImplementation "org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test"
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index bdc9a83..0c85a1f 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.0.2-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.1-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/installAndRun.sh b/installAndRun.sh
index 263804f..929a93c 100755
--- a/installAndRun.sh
+++ b/installAndRun.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ elif [[ $# -gt 2 ]]; then
 	echo -e "Wrong number of arguments given: ${#} (more than 2)\nPlease execute it like: script.sh <justRun: 0 | 1> <avoidReInstallingPublicationsRetriever: 0 | 1>";	exit 2
 fi
 
-gradleVersion="8.0.2"
+gradleVersion="8.1"
 
 if [[ justRun -eq 0 ]]; then
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/FilesCompressor.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/FilesCompressor.java
index 6a5fc09..f4a4b92 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/FilesCompressor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/FilesCompressor.java
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ public class FilesCompressor {
 
         if ( numTarredFiles != filesToTar.size() )
             logger.warn("The number of \"numTarredFiles\" (" + numTarredFiles + ") is different from the number of files requested to be tarred (" + filesToTar.size() + "), for assignments_" + assignmentsCounter + ", batch_" + tarBatchCounter);
+            // Still, some files may have been tarred, so we move on. It's up to the Controller, to handle such case.
 
         return tarFile;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/UriBuilder.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/UriBuilder.java
index 73a90a1..0897110 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/UriBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_worker/util/UriBuilder.java
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ public class UriBuilder {
         baseUrl += sslEnabled.equals("true") ? "s" : "";
         baseUrl += "://";
 
-        ip = getPublicIP();
-        if ( ip == null )
+        if ( (ip = getPublicIP()) == null )
             ip = InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().getHostAddress();   // Non-null.
 
         baseUrl += ip + ":" + webServerAppCtxt.getWebServer().getPort();