diff --git a/.github/workflows/lite.yml b/.github/workflows/lite.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1ae37e1113
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/lite.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+name: lite
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - "**"
+    tags-ignore:
+      - "*"
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+
+## -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+## -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+  linux:
+    name: "linux ${{ matrix.configure }}"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 120
+
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        configure:
+          [
+            "",
+            "-Dusethreads",
+          ]
+    env:
+      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
+      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
+      WORKSPACE: ${{ github.workspace }}
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Dump GitHub context
+        env:
+          GITHUB_CONTEXT: ${{ toJson(github) }}
+        run: echo "$GITHUB_CONTEXT"
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: git cfg + fetch tags
+        run: |
+          git config diff.renameLimit 999999
+          git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*
+      - name: Configure
+        run: |
+          ./Configure -des -Dusedevel ${{ matrix.configure }} -Dprefix="$HOME/perl-blead" -DDEBUGGING
+      - name: Build
+        run: |
+          make -j2
+      - name: Run Tests
+        run: |
+          TEST_JOBS=2 make -j2 test
+
diff --git a/.github/workflows/testsuite.yml b/.github/workflows/testsuite.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index d6acbdbd2f..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/testsuite.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,404 +0,0 @@
-name: testsuite
-
-on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - "**"
-    tags-ignore:
-      - "*"
-  pull_request:
-
-jobs:
-  #  ___           _         ___       __                    _   _
-  # / __|_ __  ___| |_____  |_ _|_ _  / _|___ _ _ _ __  __ _| |_(_)___ _ _  ___
-  # \__ \ '  \/ _ \ / / -_)  | || ' \|  _/ _ \ '_| '  \/ _` |  _| / _ \ ' \(_-<
-  # |___/_|_|_\___/_\_\___| |___|_||_|_| \___/_| |_|_|_\__,_|\__|_\___/_||_/__/
-
-  authors:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: ( github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == 'Perl/perl5' || github.repository == 'Perl/perl5' ) && github.base_ref != ''
-    continue-on-error: true
-
-    steps:
-      - name: Dump GitHub context
-        env:
-          GITHUB_CONTEXT: ${{ toJson(github) }}
-        run: echo "$GITHUB_CONTEXT"
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 1000
-      - name: git setup
-        run: |
-          echo "Pull request authors"
-          echo "# git merge-base origin/${BASE_REF} HEAD"
-          git remote set-url origin "https://$GITHUB_ACTOR:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY"
-          git config diff.renameLimit 999999
-          git fetch --depth=1000 origin ${BASE_REF}
-        env:
-          BASE_REF: ${{ github.base_ref }}
-      - name: Involved authors
-        run: |
-          git log --pretty=format:"Author: %an <%ae>" origin/${BASE_REF}...${SHA}^2 | sort -u
-        env:
-          BASE_REF: ${{ github.base_ref }}
-          SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
-
-  #  ___            _ _           ___ _           _
-  # / __| __ _ _ _ (_) |_ _  _   / __| |_  ___ __| |__
-  # \__ \/ _` | ' \| |  _| || | | (__| ' \/ -_) _| / /
-  # |___/\__,_|_||_|_|\__|\_, |  \___|_||_\___\__|_\_\
-  #                       |__/
-  # ascii art small font from https://ascii.co.uk/text
-
-  sanity_check:
-    name: "Sanity: Linux -Dusethreads"
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-      WORKSPACE: ${{ github.workspace }}
-
-    steps:
-      - name: Dump GitHub context
-        env:
-          GITHUB_CONTEXT: ${{ toJson(github) }}
-        run: echo "$GITHUB_CONTEXT"
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: git cfg + fetch tags
-        run: |
-          git config diff.renameLimit 999999
-          git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*
-      - name: Configure
-        run: |
-          ./Configure -des -Dusedevel ${CONFIGURE_ARGS} -Dprefix="$HOME/perl-blead" -DDEBUGGING
-        env:
-          CONFIGURE_ARGS: "-Dusethreads"
-      - name: Build
-        run: |
-          make -j2
-      - name: Run Tests
-        run: |
-          TEST_JOBS=2 make -j2 test
-
-  # use a dedicated job to check if full testsuite is enabled
-  #   avoid starting VMs if not neeced
-  #   and also provide the same check for all platforms
-  # the job fails when EXTENDED_TESTING is unset and run on fork repo
-  # note: secrets come from fork repositories
-
-  check_extended_testing:
-    name: "Run EXTENDED_TESTING"
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-
-    steps:
-      # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-      # cannot use secrets earlier as part of 'if:' condition
-      - name: "Runs if EXTENDED_TESTING is set"
-        env:
-          EXTENDED_TESTING: ${{ secrets.EXTENDED_TESTING }}
-          CURRENT_REPOSITORY: ${{ github.repository }}
-        run: |
-          if [[ -z "${EXTENDED_TESTING}" && "${CURRENT_REPOSITORY}" != 'Perl/perl5' ]]; then
-            echo "[Warning] Only run extended tests on 'Perl/perl5' PRs or when secrets.EXTENDED_TESTING is set. Stopping."
-            exit 78
-          fi
-      - run: echo "Running EXTENDED_TESTING tests"
-      # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-  #  _ _
-  # | (_)_ _ _  ___ __
-  # | | | ' \ || \ \ /
-  # |_|_|_||_\_,_/_\_\
-
-  linux:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-      WORKSPACE: ${{ github.workspace }}
-
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix:
-        # exercise a variety of build options
-        # threads often cause build issues
-        CONFIGURE_ARGS:
-          - "-Uusethreads"
-          #- "-Dusethreads" # already tested above by sanity_check
-          - "-Duseshrplib -Dusesitecustomize -Duselongdouble PERL_UNICODE='' LANG='en_US.UTF-8'"
-          - "-Duseshrplib -Dusequadmath -Dusecbacktrace -Dusethreads PERL_UNICODE='' LANG='de_DE.UTF-8'"
-          - "-Duserelocatableinc"
-          - "-Dcc='clang'"
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: git cfg + fetch tags
-        run: |
-          git config diff.renameLimit 999999
-          git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*
-      - name: Configure
-        run: |
-          ./Configure -des -Dusedevel ${{ matrix.CONFIGURE_ARGS }} -Dprefix="$HOME/perl-blead" -DDEBUGGING
-      - name: Build
-        run: |
-          make -j2
-      - name: Run Tests
-        run: |
-          TEST_JOBS=2 make -j2 test
-
-  #===============================================
-
-  linux-i386:
-    name: "linux i386/ubuntu"
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    # https://hub.docker.com/r/i386/ubuntu/
-    container:
-      image: i386/ubuntu:latest
-      env:
-        PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-        CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-        WORKSPACE: ${{ github.workspace }}
-
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix:
-        CONFIGURE_ARGS:
-          - "-Dusedevel"
-
-    steps:
-      - name: Install System dependencies
-        run: |
-          apt-get update ||:
-          apt-get -y install build-essential git-core
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: fix git remote credential
-        run: git remote set-url origin "https://$GITHUB_ACTOR:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY"
-      - name: git cfg + fetch tags
-        run: |
-          git config diff.renameLimit 999999
-          git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*
-      - name: Configure
-        run: |
-          ./Configure -des -Dusedevel ${{ matrix.CONFIGURE_ARGS }} -Dprefix="$HOME/perl-blead" -DDEBUGGING
-      - name: Build
-        run: |
-          make -j2
-      - name: Run Tests
-        run: |
-          TEST_JOBS=2 make -j2 test
-
-  #                 ___  ___
-  #  _ __  __ _ __ / _ \/ __|
-  # | '  \/ _` / _| (_) \__ \
-  # |_|_|_\__,_\__|\___/|___/
-
-  smoke-macos-xcode11:
-    name: "macOS xcode 11"
-    runs-on: macos-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@master
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 10
-      - name: Configure
-        run: |
-          export SDK=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk
-          sh ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
-      - name: Build
-        run: |
-          make -j2
-      - name: Run Tests
-        run: |
-          make -j2 test
-
-  #         _         _
-  # __ __ _(_)_ _  __| |_____ __ _____
-  # \ V  V / | ' \/ _` / _ \ V  V (_-<
-  #  \_/\_/|_|_||_\__,_\___/\_/\_//__/
-
-  windows-msvc142:
-    name: "Windows msvc142"
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-
-    steps:
-      - run: git config --global core.autocrlf false
-      - uses: actions/checkout@master
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 10
-      #- name: Install clcache
-      #  shell: cmd
-      #  run: |
-      #    curl -L https://github.com/frerich/clcache/releases/download/v4.2.0/clcache.4.2.0.nupkg --output clcache.4.2.0.nupkg
-      #    choco install clcache --source=.
-      #- name: find home directory
-      #  shell: cmd
-      #  run: |
-      #    set
-      #- name: C compiler cache
-      #  id: clcache
-      #  uses: actions/cache@v1
-      #  with:
-      #    path: $HOME\clcache
-      #    key: ${{ runner.os }}-x64
-      #- name: Set up Perl build environment
-      #  # pushd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\"
-      #  # for /f "delims=" %%x in ('.\vswhere.exe -latest -property InstallationPath') do set VSPATH=%%x
-      #  # popd
-      #  # call "%VSPATH%\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x64
-      #  #run: |
-      - name: Build
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x64
-          cd win32
-          nmake CCTYPE=MSVC142
-      - name: Run Tests
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x64
-          cd win32
-          nmake CCTYPE=MSVC142 test
-
-  #===============================================
-
-  windows-msvc100:
-    name: "Windows msvc100"
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-
-    steps:
-      - run: git config --global core.autocrlf false
-      - uses: actions/checkout@master
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 10
-      - name: Set up MSVC100
-        run: |
-          choco install vcexpress2010
-      - name: Help
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" /help
-      - name: Build
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86
-          cd win32
-          nmake CCTYPE=MSVC100 WIN64=undef
-      - name: Run Tests
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86
-          cd win32
-          nmake CCTYPE=MSVC100 WIN64=undef test
-
-  #===============================================
-
-  mingw64:
-    name: "Windows mingw64"
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-
-    steps:
-      - run: git config --global core.autocrlf false
-      - uses: actions/checkout@master
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 10
-      - name: Set up Perl build environment
-        run: |
-          choco install strawberryperl
-          echo "##[add-path]C:\strawberry\c\bin;C:\strawberry\perl\site\bin;C:\strawberry\perl\bin"
-      - name: Host perl -V
-        run: perl -V
-      - name: gcc --version
-        run: gcc --version
-      - name: Build
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          cd win32
-          gmake -f GNUMakefile -j2
-      - name: Run Tests
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          cd win32
-          set HARNESS_OPTIONS=j2
-          set CCHOME=C:\strawberry\c
-          gmake -f GNUMakefile test
-
-  #===============================================
-
-  cygwin:
-    name: "cygwin"
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 120
-    needs: [sanity_check, check_extended_testing]
-
-    env:
-      PERL_SKIP_TTY_TEST: 1
-      CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION: 1
-
-    steps:
-      - run: git config --global core.autocrlf false
-      - name: Set up Cygwin
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          choco install cygwin --params="/InstallDir:%GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin"
-          choco install cyg-get
-          cyg-get cygwin-devel gcc-core gcc gcc-g++ make cygwin64-w32api-headers binutils libtool git ccache
-      - name: Check out using Cygwin git, to ensure correct file permissions
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          path %GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\bin;%GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\usr\bin
-          sh -c "mkdir -p ~; cd ~; echo \"$GITHUB_REPOSITORY\"; git clone -qn \"https://$GITHUB_ACTOR:$GITHUB_TOKEN@github.com/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY\" work ; cd work ; if [ \"$GITHUB_EVENT_NAME\" = pull_request ] ; then git fetch origin \"$GITHUB_REF\" ; fi ; git checkout \"$GITHUB_SHA\""
-      - name: Configure
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          path %GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\bin;%GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\usr\bin
-          sh -c "cd ~/work; ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Doptimize=-g -DDEBUGGING"
-      - name: Build
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          path %GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\bin;%GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\usr\bin
-          sh -c "cd ~/work; make -j2"
-      - name: Run Tests
-        shell: cmd
-        run: |
-          path %GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\bin;%GITHUB_WORKSPACE%\cygwin\usr\bin
-          sh -c "cd ~/work; make -j2 test"