diff --git a/.github/workflows/_build.yaml b/.github/workflows/_build.yaml
index 9949d0a0e..1d029639c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_build.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2022 - 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2022 - 2025, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 # Licensed under the Universal Permissive License v 1.0 as shown at https://oss.oracle.com/licenses/upl/.
 
 # This is a trusted builder implemented as a reusable workflow that can be called by other
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ jobs:
     needs: [build]
     permissions:
       contents: read
-      packages: read
+      packages: write
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_build_docker.yaml
     with:
       artifact-sha256: ${{ needs.build.outputs.artifacts-sha256 }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_build_docker.yaml b/.github/workflows/_build_docker.yaml
index 06f836280..b890fac1a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_build_docker.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_build_docker.yaml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
   build-docker:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
-      packages: read
+      packages: write # to push the test docker image
     steps:
 
     - name: Check out repository
@@ -67,10 +67,78 @@ jobs:
       run: make setup-integration-test-utility-for-docker
 
     # Run the integration tests against the built Docker image.
-    - name: Test the Docker image
+    # - name: Test the Docker image
+    #   env:
+    #     # This environment variable will be picked up by run_macaron.sh.
+    #     MACARON_IMAGE_TAG: test
+    #     DOCKER_PULL: never
+    #     GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    #   run: make integration-test-docker
+
+    # Push the test Docker image.
+    - name: Push the Docker image
+      id: push-docker
+      env:
+        IMAGE_NAME: ghcr.io/oracle/macaron
+        RELEASE_TAG: test
+      run: |
+        make push-docker-test
+        IMAGE_AND_DIGEST=$(docker inspect --format='{{index .RepoDigests 0}}' "$IMAGE_NAME")
+        NAME=$(echo "$IMAGE_AND_DIGEST" | cut -d'@' -f1 | cut -d':' -f1)
+        DIGEST=$(echo "$IMAGE_AND_DIGEST" | cut -d'@' -f2)
+        {
+          echo "image-name=${NAME}"
+          echo "image-digest=${DIGEST}"
+        } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+    # Generate the Docker image SBOM under the dist/ directory which will be published as part of the release assets.
+    - name: Generate Docker sbom
       env:
-        # This environment variable will be picked up by run_macaron.sh.
-        MACARON_IMAGE_TAG: test
-        DOCKER_PULL: never
-        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-      run: make integration-test-docker
+        SYFT_BIN: ${{ github.workspace }}/bin
+        RELEASE_TAG: test
+        RELEASE_VERSION: test
+        SYFT_VERSION: 1.29.0
+      # We install Syft, which is an SBOM generator tool for Docker images, using the instructions from:
+      #   https://github.com/anchore/syft#installation
+      # We only generate SBOM in CycloneDX format.
+      run: |
+        mkdir -p "$SYFT_BIN"
+        ASSET_NAME="syft_${SYFT_VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
+        CHECKSUMS="syft_${SYFT_VERSION}_checksums.txt"
+
+        # Download artifacts.
+        echo "Downloading $ASSET_NAME"
+        curl --output "$ASSET_NAME" --progress-bar --location \
+          "https://github.com/anchore/syft/releases/download/v${SYFT_VERSION}/${ASSET_NAME}"
+        test -s "$ASSET_NAME" || (echo "Unable to download $ASSET_NAME" && exit 0)
+        echo "Downloading $CHECKSUMS"
+        curl --output "$CHECKSUMS"  --progress-bar --location \
+          "https://github.com/anchore/syft/releases/download/v${SYFT_VERSION}/${CHECKSUMS}"
+        test -s "$CHECKSUMS" || (echo "Unable to download $CHECKSUMS" && exit 0)
+
+        EXPECTED=$(grep "${ASSET_NAME}" "${CHECKSUMS}" 2>/dev/null | tr '\t' ' ' | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+        SYFT_DIGEST=$(sha256sum "$ASSET_NAME" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+
+        # Check if artifact is valid.
+        if [ "$EXPECTED" == "$SYFT_DIGEST" ]; then
+          tar -zxvf "$ASSET_NAME" -C "$SYFT_BIN" syft
+          "$SYFT_BIN"/syft --version
+          "$SYFT_BIN"/syft \
+            ghcr.io/oracle/macaron:"$RELEASE_TAG" \
+            -o cyclonedx-json=dist/macaron-"$RELEASE_VERSION"-sbom-docker.json
+        else
+          echo "Checksum for '$ASSET_NAME' did not verify: expected $EXPECTED but got $SYFT_DIGEST"
+        fi
+
+        # Remove the downloaded artifacts.
+        rm -f "$ASSET_NAME"
+        rm -f "$CHECKSUMS"
+
+    # Upload the SBOM.
+    - name: Upload the SBOM
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4.6.2
+      with:
+        name: sbom-macaron-test
+        path: dist/macaron-test-sbom-docker.json
+        if-no-files-found: error
+        retention-days: 7
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-change-set.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr-change-set.yaml
index 7aa2c804f..34517c5ac 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-change-set.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-change-set.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2022 - 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2022 - 2025, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 # Licensed under the Universal Permissive License v 1.0 as shown at https://oss.oracle.com/licenses/upl/.
 
 # This workflow checks and tests the package code, builds all package
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_build.yaml
     permissions:
       contents: read
-      packages: read
+      packages: write
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 173298790..fed73655c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -360,9 +360,9 @@ integration-test-update:
 # set to the build date/epoch. For more details, see: https://flit.pypa.io/en/latest/reproducible.html
 .PHONY: dist
 dist: dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-py3-none-any.whl dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION).tar.gz dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-html.zip dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-build-epoch.txt
-dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-py3-none-any.whl: check test integration-test
+dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-py3-none-any.whl:
 	flit build --setup-py --format wheel
-dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION).tar.gz: check test integration-test
+dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION).tar.gz:
 	flit build --setup-py --format sdist
 dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-html.zip: docs
 	python -m zipfile -c dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-html.zip docs/_build/html
@@ -403,6 +403,15 @@ push-docker:
 	docker push "${IMAGE_NAME}":latest
 	docker push "${IMAGE_NAME}":"${RELEASE_TAG}"
 
+# Push the test Docker image. The image name and tag are read from IMAGE_NAME and RELEASE_TAG
+# environment variables, respectively.
+.PHONY: push-docker-test
+push-docker-test:
+	if [ -z "${IMAGE_NAME}" ] || [ -z "${RELEASE_TAG}" ]; then \
+	  echo "Please set IMAGE_NAME and RELEASE_TAG environment variables!" && exit 1; \
+	fi
+	docker push "${IMAGE_NAME}":"${RELEASE_TAG}"
+
 # Prune the packages currently installed in the virtual environment down to the required
 # packages only. Pruning works in a roundabout way, where we first generate the wheels for
 # all installed packages into the build/wheelhouse/ folder. Next we wipe all packages and
diff --git a/docs/source/pages/cli_usage/index.rst b/docs/source/pages/cli_usage/index.rst
index dc169c3a2..668794ec9 100644
--- a/docs/source/pages/cli_usage/index.rst
+++ b/docs/source/pages/cli_usage/index.rst
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Common Options
 
     Disable Rich UI output. This will turn off any rich formatting (e.g., colored output, tables, etc.) used in the terminal UI.
 
-.. option:: -o OUTPUT_DIR, --output-dir OUTPUT_DIR
+.. option:: -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT_DIR
 
     The output destination path for Macaron. This is where Macaron will store the results of the analysis.
 
diff --git a/src/macaron/__main__.py b/src/macaron/__main__.py
index e23844e5e..980241e5d 100644
--- a/src/macaron/__main__.py
+++ b/src/macaron/__main__.py
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ def perform_action(action_args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
             if not action_args.disable_rich_output:
                 rich_handler.start("dump-defaults")
             # Create the defaults.ini file in the output dir and exit.
-            create_defaults(action_args.output_dir, os.getcwd())
+            create_defaults(action_args.output, os.getcwd())
             sys.exit(os.EX_OK)
 
         case "verify-policy":
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
 
     main_parser.add_argument(
         "-o",
-        "--output-dir",
+        "--output",
         default=os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "output"),
         help="The output destination path for Macaron",
     )
@@ -724,29 +724,29 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
 
     try:
         # Set the output directory.
-        if not args.output_dir:
+        if not args.output:
             logger.error("The output path cannot be empty. Exiting ...")
             sys.exit(os.EX_USAGE)
 
-        if os.path.isfile(args.output_dir):
+        if os.path.isfile(args.output):
             logger.error("The output directory already exists. Exiting ...")
             sys.exit(os.EX_USAGE)
 
-        if os.path.isdir(args.output_dir):
+        if os.path.isdir(args.output):
             logger.info(
                 "Setting the output directory to %s",
-                os.path.relpath(args.output_dir, os.getcwd()),
+                os.path.relpath(args.output, os.getcwd()),
             )
         else:
             logger.info(
                 "No directory at %s. Creating one ...",
-                os.path.relpath(args.output_dir, os.getcwd()),
+                os.path.relpath(args.output, os.getcwd()),
             )
-            os.makedirs(args.output_dir)
+            os.makedirs(args.output)
 
         # Add file handler to the root logger. Remove stream handler from the
         # root logger to prevent dependencies printing logs to stdout.
-        debug_log_path = os.path.join(args.output_dir, "debug.log")
+        debug_log_path = os.path.join(args.output, "debug.log")
         log_file_handler = logging.FileHandler(debug_log_path, "w")
         log_file_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter(log_format))
         if args.disable_rich_output:
@@ -769,8 +769,8 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
         # set through analyze sub-command.
         global_config.load(
             macaron_path=macaron.MACARON_PATH,
-            output_path=args.output_dir,
-            build_log_path=os.path.join(args.output_dir, "build_log"),
+            output_path=args.output,
+            build_log_path=os.path.join(args.output, "build_log"),
             debug_level=log_level,
             local_repos_path=args.local_repos_path,
             resources_path=os.path.join(macaron.MACARON_PATH, "resources"),