diff --git a/.github/workflows/autotools.yml b/.github/workflows/autotools.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 53110306..00000000
--- a/.github/workflows/autotools.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-name: C with autotools
-
-on: [push, pull_request]
-
-jobs:
-  build:
-
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
-    - name: autogen
-      run: ./autogen.sh
-    - name: configure
-      run: ./configure
-    - name: make
-      run: make
-    - name: make distcheck
-      run: make distcheck
diff --git a/.github/workflows/compile.yml b/.github/workflows/compile.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..25a3a46d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/compile.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+name: compile
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+jobs:
+  stable:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        release:
+        - "ubuntu:20.04"
+        - "ubuntu:22.04"
+        - "ubuntu:24.04"
+        - "debian:bullseye"
+        - "debian:bookworm"
+        - "debian:testing"
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    # remove this when Ubuntu 24.04 is available on GitHub Actions
+    - name: Enable Ubuntu noble and update podman
+      run: |
+        echo 'deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble main restricted universe' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lunar.list
+        echo 'deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-updates main restricted universe' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lunar.list
+        sudo apt-get update
+        DEBIAN_FRONTEND='noninteractive' sudo apt-get install -qy podman
+        podman version
+
+    - name: Prepare ${{ matrix.release }} container for build
+      run: |
+        podman version
+        podman run --name stable -di --userns=keep-id:uid=1000,gid=1000 -v "$PWD":/home -w /home ${{ matrix.release }} bash
+        podman exec -i stable uname -a
+        podman exec -i stable id
+        podman exec -i -u root stable apt-get update
+        podman exec -e DEBIAN_FRONTEND='noninteractive' -i -u root stable apt-get install -qy build-essential cmake ninja-build
+
+    - name: Configure
+      run: |
+        podman exec -i stable cmake -B build
+
+    - name: Build
+      run: |
+        podman exec -i stable make -C build