diff --git a/.github/workflows/codespell.yml b/.github/workflows/codespell.yml
index 5768d7c6..d5cf40f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/codespell.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/codespell.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,6 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Codespell
         uses: codespell-project/actions-codespell@v1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yml b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
index 676ddaf0..c5b53711 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Set up Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: "3.11"
       - name: Install system dependencies
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint.yml b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
index e8d2c199..bd457e1a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Set up Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: "3.11"
       - name: Install Black
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 5ab438dd..8b726821 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         include:
-          - python: "3.9"
+          - python: "3.10"
             install_datalad: datalad
             # install_condor: condor
             # TODO 20.04 may be needed for condor
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ jobs:
             os: ubuntu-22.04
             reproman_tests_deps: full-except-datalad
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python }}
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v3
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
       - name: Set up system
@@ -120,9 +120,7 @@ jobs:
           pip install -e .[tests]
           pip install -e .[devel-docs]
           pip install -e .[devel-utils]
-      - name: Verify setup.py build
-        run: python setup.py build
       - name: Run tests
         run: python -m pytest -s -v -rsfE --integration --cov=reproman --cov-report=xml reproman
       - name: Upload coverage to codecov
-        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v1
+        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 880d97c5..56972a86 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@
 # for the module reference
 autosummary_generate = True
 
+# Man page RST files under source/generated/man/ are not committed to git
+# (they are generated by `python setup.py build_manpage`), so references
+# to man page labels (e.g. man_reproman-login) will be undefined during
+# a normal docs build. Suppress those warnings.
+suppress_warnings = ["ref.ref", "toc.not_readable"]
+
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
 templates_path = ["_templates"]
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cfd7bcf7..d54c652e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 [tool.black]
 line-length = 100
-target-version = ['py39']
\ No newline at end of file
+target-version = ['py310']
+
+[tool.pytest.ini_options]
+testpaths = ["reproman"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/reproman/cmd.py b/reproman/cmd.py
index 5ed58525..d822017b 100644
--- a/reproman/cmd.py
+++ b/reproman/cmd.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
 """
 
-
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import logging
diff --git a/reproman/cmdline/helpers.py b/reproman/cmdline/helpers.py
index 62d77216..d288a3d7 100644
--- a/reproman/cmdline/helpers.py
+++ b/reproman/cmdline/helpers.py
@@ -171,8 +171,7 @@ def run_via_pbs(args, pbs):
         # TODO: we might need better way to join them, escaping spaces etc.  There must be a stock helper
         # exe_args = ' '.join(map(repr, args[1:])) if len(args) > 1 else ''
         exe_args = " ".join(args[1:]) if len(args) > 1 else ""
-        f.write(
-            """\
+        f.write("""\
 Executable = %(exe)s
 Initialdir = %(pwd)s
 Output = %(logs)s
@@ -181,9 +180,7 @@ def run_via_pbs(args, pbs):
 
 arguments = %(exe_args)s
 queue
-"""
-            % locals()
-        )
+""" % locals())
         f.close()
         Runner().run(["condor_submit", f.name])
         lgr.info("Scheduled execution via %s.  Logs will be stored under %s" % (pbs, logs))
diff --git a/reproman/cmdline/main.py b/reproman/cmdline/main.py
index 0c1acca0..59763c6e 100644
--- a/reproman/cmdline/main.py
+++ b/reproman/cmdline/main.py
@@ -73,11 +73,9 @@ def setup_parser(formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter, return_su
     # main parser
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         fromfile_prefix_chars="@",
-        description=dedent_docstring(
-            """\
+        description=dedent_docstring("""\
             ReproMan aims to ease construction and execution of computation environments
-            based on collected provenance data."""
-        ),
+            based on collected provenance data."""),
         epilog='"Reproducibly Manage Your Environments"',
         formatter_class=formatter_class,
         add_help=False,
@@ -217,12 +215,10 @@ def setup_parser(formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter, return_su
         parser.description,
         "\n".join(cmd_summary),
         textwrap.fill(
-            dedent_docstring(
-                """\
+            dedent_docstring("""\
     Detailed usage information for individual commands is
     available via command-specific --help, i.e.:
-    reproman <command> --help"""
-            ),
+    reproman <command> --help"""),
             75,
             initial_indent="",
             subsequent_indent="",
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/conda.py b/reproman/distributions/conda.py
index 3f04c63f..2a22861e 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/conda.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/conda.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Orchestrator sub-class to provide management of the localhost environment."""
+
 import json
 import os
 from collections import defaultdict
@@ -439,8 +440,8 @@ def identify_distributions(self, paths):
                 continue
             # Retrieve the environment details
             env_export = self._get_conda_env_export(root_path, conda_path)
-            (conda_package_details, file_to_pkg) = self._get_conda_package_details(conda_path)
-            (conda_pip_package_details, file_to_pip_pkg) = self._get_conda_pip_package_details(
+            conda_package_details, file_to_pkg = self._get_conda_package_details(conda_path)
+            conda_pip_package_details, file_to_pip_pkg = self._get_conda_pip_package_details(
                 env_export, conda_path
             )
             # Join our conda and pip packages
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/debian.py b/reproman/distributions/debian.py
index 1f69de36..41ea4932 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/debian.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/debian.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Support for Debian(-based) distribution(s)."""
+
 import os
 import re
 
@@ -526,7 +527,7 @@ def _get_pkgs_install_date(self, pkg_dicts):
                 out = exc.stdout  # One file not found, so continue
             # Parse the output and store by filename
             for outlines in out.splitlines():
-                (fname, ftime) = outlines.split(": ")
+                fname, ftime = outlines.split(": ")
                 results[fname] = str(pytz.utc.localize(datetime.utcfromtimestamp(float(ftime))))
 
         # Now lookup the packages in the results
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/piputils.py b/reproman/distributions/piputils.py
index 246256a6..318cbeba 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/piputils.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/piputils.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Utilities for working with pip."""
+
 import itertools
 import json
 import os
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/redhat.py b/reproman/distributions/redhat.py
index 864ddd54..53797ea8 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/redhat.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/redhat.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Support for Redhat(-based) distribution(s)."""
+
 import attr
 
 
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/singularity.py b/reproman/distributions/singularity.py
index 6f567a7c..79f567e9 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/singularity.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/singularity.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 import tempfile
 import uuid
 
-
 lgr = logging.getLogger("reproman.distributions.singularity")
 
 from .base import Package
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_conda.py b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_conda.py
index fc9a5981..99817705 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_conda.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_conda.py
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ def test_conda_init_install_and_detect(tmpdir):
 
     assert len(dists) == 1, "Exactly one Conda distribution expected."
 
-    (distributions, unknown_files) = dists[0]
+    distributions, unknown_files = dists[0]
 
     # RepromanProvenance.write(sys.stdout, distributions)
 
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_debian.py b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_debian.py
index 4ba3d908..a9fc17ad 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_debian.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_debian.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 def test_dpkg_manager_identify_packages():
     files = [COMMON_SYSTEM_PATH]
     tracer = DebTracer()
-    (packages, unknown_files) = tracer.identify_packages_from_files(files)
+    packages, unknown_files = tracer.identify_packages_from_files(files)
     # Make sure that our common path was identified
     assert not unknown_files, "%s should be identified" % COMMON_SYSTEM_PATH
     assert len(packages) == 1
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ def test_utf8_file():
     ]
     manager = DebTracer()
     # Simple sanity check that the pipeline works with utf-8
-    (packages, unknown_files) = manager.identify_packages_from_files(files)
+    packages, unknown_files = manager.identify_packages_from_files(files)
     packages = manager.get_details_for_packages(packages)
     # If the file exists, it should be in ca-certificates
     if os.path.isfile(files[0]):
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ def setup_packages():
 
 
 def test_package_satisfies(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     assert p1.compare(p1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert p1v10.compare(p1v10, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert not p1v10.compare(p1, mode="satisfied_by")
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ def test_package_satisfies(setup_packages):
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def setup_distributions(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     d1 = DebianDistribution(name="debian 1")
     d1.packages = [p1]
     d2 = DebianDistribution(name="debian 2")
@@ -260,8 +260,8 @@ def setup_distributions(setup_packages):
 
 
 def test_distribution_satisfies_package(setup_distributions, setup_packages):
-    (d1, d2) = setup_distributions
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    d1, d2 = setup_distributions
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     assert p1.compare(d1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert not p1v10.compare(d1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert p1.compare(d2, mode="satisfied_by")
@@ -270,13 +270,13 @@ def test_distribution_satisfies_package(setup_distributions, setup_packages):
 
 
 def test_distribution_statisfies(setup_distributions):
-    (d1, d2) = setup_distributions
+    d1, d2 = setup_distributions
     assert not d2.compare(d1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert d1.compare(d2, mode="satisfied_by")
 
 
 def test_distribution_sub(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     d1 = DebianDistribution(name="debian 1")
     d1.packages = [p1, p2]
     d2 = DebianDistribution(name="debian 2")
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ def test_distribution_sub(setup_packages):
 
 
 def test_package_is_identical_to(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     assert p1.compare(p1, mode="identical_to")
     assert p1v10.compare(p1v10, mode="identical_to")
     assert p1v11.compare(p1v11, mode="identical_to")
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_piputils.py b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_piputils.py
index 709054da..37873bf6 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_piputils.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_piputils.py
@@ -75,13 +75,10 @@ def test_parse_pip_show():
 """
 
     # Check parsing of show output for a "standard" package.
-    out_files = (
-        out_base
-        + """\
+    out_files = out_base + """\
 Files:
   pkg-0.3.0.dist-info/DESCRIPTION.rst
   pkg/__init__.py"""
-    )
     info_files = piputils.parse_pip_show(out_files)
 
     fields = {
@@ -103,12 +100,9 @@ def test_parse_pip_show():
 
     # Check parsing of show output for an editable packages that lacks
     # files.
-    out_no_files = (
-        out_base
-        + """\
+    out_no_files = out_base + """\
 Files:
 Cannot locate installed-files.txt"""
-    )
     info_nofiles = piputils.parse_pip_show(out_no_files)
     assert set(info_nofiles.keys()) == fields
     assert info_nofiles["Files"] == []
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_redhat.py b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_redhat.py
index 7de35090..349ee9c8 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_redhat.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_redhat.py
@@ -36,8 +36,7 @@ def docker_container():
 def centos_spec():
     tmp = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False)
     with open(tmp.name, "w") as f:
-        f.write(
-            """# ReproMan Environment Configuration File
+        f.write("""# ReproMan Environment Configuration File
 # This file was created by ReproMan 0.0.5 on 2018-05-23 22:03:22.820177
 version: 0.0.1
 distributions:
@@ -95,8 +94,7 @@ def centos_spec():
     files:
     - /usr/sbin/fido
   version: CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core)
-"""
-        )
+""")
     return tmp.name
 
 
@@ -115,7 +113,7 @@ def setup_packages():
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def setup_distributions(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     d1 = RedhatDistribution(name="debian 1")
     d1.packages = [p1]
     d2 = RedhatDistribution(name="debian 2")
@@ -124,7 +122,7 @@ def setup_distributions(setup_packages):
 
 
 def test_package_satisfies(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     assert p1.compare(p1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert p1v10.compare(p1v10, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert not p1v10.compare(p1, mode="satisfied_by")
@@ -142,8 +140,8 @@ def test_package_satisfies(setup_packages):
 
 
 def test_distribution_satisfies_package(setup_distributions, setup_packages):
-    (d1, d2) = setup_distributions
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    d1, d2 = setup_distributions
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     assert p1.compare(d1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert not p1v10.compare(d1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert p1.compare(d2, mode="satisfied_by")
@@ -152,13 +150,13 @@ def test_distribution_satisfies_package(setup_distributions, setup_packages):
 
 
 def test_distribution_statisfies(setup_distributions):
-    (d1, d2) = setup_distributions
+    d1, d2 = setup_distributions
     assert not d2.compare(d1, mode="satisfied_by")
     assert d1.compare(d2, mode="satisfied_by")
 
 
 def test_distribution_sub(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     d1 = RedhatDistribution(name="debian 1")
     d1.packages = [p1, p2]
     d2 = RedhatDistribution(name="debian 2")
@@ -223,7 +221,7 @@ def test_distribution(docker_container, centos_spec):
 
 
 def test_package_is_identical_to(setup_packages):
-    (p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2) = setup_packages
+    p1, p1v10, p1v11, p1ai, p1aa, p1v11ai, p2 = setup_packages
     assert p1.compare(p1, mode="identical_to")
     assert p1v10.compare(p1v10, mode="identical_to")
     assert p1v11.compare(p1v11, mode="identical_to")
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_vcs.py b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_vcs.py
index 04a1b764..4dbfecf8 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/tests/test_vcs.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/tests/test_vcs.py
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ def test_git_install_add_remotes(traced_repo_copy, tmpdir):
 
 
 def test_svn(svn_repo):
-    (svn_repo_root, checked_out_dir) = svn_repo
+    svn_repo_root, checked_out_dir = svn_repo
     svn_file = os.path.join(checked_out_dir, "foo")
     uuid_file = os.path.join(svn_repo_root, "db", "uuid")
     uuid = open(uuid_file).readlines()[0].strip()
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ def test_svn(svn_repo):
 
 
 def test_empty_svn(svn_repo_empty):
-    (svn_repo_root, checked_out_dir) = svn_repo_empty
+    svn_repo_root, checked_out_dir = svn_repo_empty
     tracer = VCSTracer()
     distributions = list(tracer.identify_distributions([checked_out_dir]))
     svn_repo = distributions[0][0].packages[0]
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/vcs.py b/reproman/distributions/vcs.py
index be52f9ba..5f4e15ff 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/vcs.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/vcs.py
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
 from reproman.distributions.base import Distribution
 from reproman.distributions.base import TypedList
 
-
 # # TODO: use metaclass I guess... ?
 # def get_vcs_distribution(RepoClass, name, Name):
 #     """A helper to generate VCS distribution classes"""
diff --git a/reproman/distributions/venv.py b/reproman/distributions/venv.py
index 03dd2f0b..b9278790 100644
--- a/reproman/distributions/venv.py
+++ b/reproman/distributions/venv.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Support for Python's virtualenv."""
+
 from collections import defaultdict
 import logging
 import os
diff --git a/reproman/dochelpers.py b/reproman/dochelpers.py
index 73f9b0e2..07c44ac0 100644
--- a/reproman/dochelpers.py
+++ b/reproman/dochelpers.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 import sys
 import traceback
 
-
 lgr = logging.getLogger("reproman.docutils")
 
 __add_init2doc = False
diff --git a/reproman/formats/reproman.py b/reproman/formats/reproman.py
index 153a81c6..07162381 100644
--- a/reproman/formats/reproman.py
+++ b/reproman/formats/reproman.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 Plugin support for provenance YAML files following ReproMan spec.
 
 """
+
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import collections
diff --git a/reproman/formats/trig.py b/reproman/formats/trig.py
index 2243a001..292f208c 100644
--- a/reproman/formats/trig.py
+++ b/reproman/formats/trig.py
@@ -45,14 +45,12 @@ def _load(cls, source):
 
     def get_packages(self):
 
-        results = self._src.query(
-            """SELECT DISTINCT ?command ?version
+        results = self._src.query("""SELECT DISTINCT ?command ?version
             WHERE {
             ?x nipype:command ?full_command .
             bind( strbefore( $full_command, " " ) as ?command ) .
             ?x nipype:version ?version .
-            }"""
-        )
+            }""")
 
         return results
 
diff --git a/reproman/interface/backend_parameters.py b/reproman/interface/backend_parameters.py
index b5e99994..59c23c14 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/backend_parameters.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/backend_parameters.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 from reproman.support.exceptions import ResourceError
 from reproman.support.param import Parameter
 
-
 lgr = getLogger("reproman.api.backend_parameters")
 
 
diff --git a/reproman/interface/common_opts.py b/reproman/interface/common_opts.py
index 23835551..ec61c9e3 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/common_opts.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/common_opts.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 from reproman.support.constraints import EnsureChoice
 from reproman.support.constraints import EnsureInt, EnsureNone, EnsureStr
 
-
 trace_opt = Parameter(
     args=("--trace",), action="store_true", doc="""if set, trace execution within the environment"""
 )
diff --git a/reproman/interface/retrace.py b/reproman/interface/retrace.py
index 460afafa..9d377ae5 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/retrace.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/retrace.py
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ def __call__(path=None, spec=None, output_file=None, resref=None, resref_type="a
         #       Generalize
         # TODO: RF so that only the above portion is reprozip specific.
         # If we are to reuse their layout largely -- the rest should stay as is
-        (distributions, files) = identify_distributions(paths, session=session)
+        distributions, files = identify_distributions(paths, session=session)
         from reproman.distributions.base import EnvironmentSpec
 
         spec = EnvironmentSpec(
diff --git a/reproman/interface/run.py b/reproman/interface/run.py
index 6a4fff5f..a970c2f5 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/run.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/run.py
@@ -290,8 +290,7 @@ class Run(Interface):
             doc="""YAML files that define job parameters. Multiple paths can be
             given. If a parameter is defined in multiple specs, the value from
             the last path that defines it is used[CMD: . Use --list to see
-            available parameters for the built-in templates CMD]."""
-            + _more_than_once_doc,
+            available parameters for the built-in templates CMD].""" + _more_than_once_doc,
         ),
         job_parameters=Parameter(
             metavar="PARAM",
@@ -305,8 +304,7 @@ class Run(Interface):
             The values are available as fields in the templates used to
             generate both the run script and submission script[CMD: . Use
             --list to see available parameters for the built-in templates
-            CMD]."""
-            + _more_than_once_doc,
+            CMD].""" + _more_than_once_doc,
         ),
         inputs=Parameter(
             args=("-i", "--input"),
@@ -316,8 +314,7 @@ class Run(Interface):
             doc="""An input path to the command. How input paths are used
             depends on the orchestrator, but, at the very least, the
             orchestrator should try to make these paths available on the
-            resource."""
-            + _more_than_once_doc,
+            resource.""" + _more_than_once_doc,
         ),
         outputs=Parameter(
             args=("-o", "--output"),
@@ -325,8 +322,7 @@ class Run(Interface):
             metavar="PATH",
             action="append",
             doc="""An output path to the command. How output paths are handled
-            depends on the orchestrator."""
-            + _more_than_once_doc,
+            depends on the orchestrator.""" + _more_than_once_doc,
         ),
         follow=Parameter(
             args=("--follow",),
diff --git a/reproman/interface/test.py b/reproman/interface/test.py
index e8101c8a..afa6193b 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/test.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/test.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Run internal ReproMan (unit)tests to verify correct operation on the system"""
 
-
 __docformat__ = "restructuredtext"
 
 
diff --git a/reproman/interface/tests/test_execute.py b/reproman/interface/tests/test_execute.py
index f130f991..a72eb8a7 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/tests/test_execute.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/tests/test_execute.py
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
 from ...cmd import Runner
 from ...utils import swallow_logs
 
-
 docker_container = get_docker_fixture(
     TEST_SSH_DOCKER_DIGEST, name="testing-container", scope="module", seccomp_unconfined=True
 )
diff --git a/reproman/interface/tests/test_ls.py b/reproman/interface/tests/test_ls.py
index 305e15ea..66c08112 100644
--- a/reproman/interface/tests/test_ls.py
+++ b/reproman/interface/tests/test_ls.py
@@ -81,8 +81,11 @@ def test_ls_interface(ls_fn):
     # Test --refresh output
     results = ls_fn(refresh=True)
     assert "NOT FOUND" in results["326b0fdfbf838"]
-    assert "CONNECTION ERROR" in results["i-22221ddf096c22bb0"]
-    assert "CONNECTION ERROR" in results["i-3333f40de2b9b8967"]
+    # EC2 resources with fake credentials may report either "CONNECTION ERROR"
+    # (connect() raises) or "NOT FOUND" (connect() succeeds but sets id=None),
+    # depending on boto3/botocore version behavior.
+    for ec2_id in ("i-22221ddf096c22bb0", "i-3333f40de2b9b8967"):
+        assert "CONNECTION ERROR" in results[ec2_id] or "NOT FOUND" in results[ec2_id]
 
 
 def test_ls_interface_limited(ls_fn):
diff --git a/reproman/resource/singularity.py b/reproman/resource/singularity.py
index f159a4d4..a49a1f6e 100644
--- a/reproman/resource/singularity.py
+++ b/reproman/resource/singularity.py
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ def get(self, src_path, dest_path=None, uid=-1, gid=-1):
 
     def listdir(self, path):
         cmd = ["singularity", "exec", "instance://{}".format(self.name), "ls", "-1", path]
-        (stdout, stderr) = self._runner.run(cmd)
+        stdout, stderr = self._runner.run(cmd)
         return [f for f in stdout.split("\n") if f not in ("", ".", "..")]
 
 
diff --git a/reproman/resource/tests/test_docker_container.py b/reproman/resource/tests/test_docker_container.py
index 7033cd98..11524aab 100644
--- a/reproman/resource/tests/test_docker_container.py
+++ b/reproman/resource/tests/test_docker_container.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 
 from pytest import raises
 
-
 setup_ubuntu = get_docker_fixture(
     TEST_SSH_DOCKER_DIGEST, scope="module", name="reproman-test-ssh-container"
 )
diff --git a/reproman/resource/tests/test_session.py b/reproman/resource/tests/test_session.py
index 5a883faa..b0d98f4e 100644
--- a/reproman/resource/tests/test_session.py
+++ b/reproman/resource/tests/test_session.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 from ...tests.fixtures import get_singularity_fixture
 from ...consts import TEST_SSH_DOCKER_DIGEST
 
-
 testing_container = get_docker_fixture(
     TEST_SSH_DOCKER_DIGEST,
     name="testing-container",
diff --git a/reproman/resource/tests/test_shell.py b/reproman/resource/tests/test_shell.py
index 5b0006bf..755697cf 100644
--- a/reproman/resource/tests/test_shell.py
+++ b/reproman/resource/tests/test_shell.py
@@ -53,8 +53,7 @@ def test_source_file(resource_test_dir):
     # Create a temporary test file
     temp_file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=resource_test_dir)
     with temp_file as f:
-        f.write(
-            """
+        f.write("""
 echo "Enabling special environment"
 echo "We could even spit out an stderr output">&2
 export EXPORTED_VAR="
@@ -62,10 +61,7 @@ def test_source_file(resource_test_dir):
 "
 export PATH=/custom:$PATH
 NON_EXPORTED_VAR=2         # but may be those should be handled??
-    """.encode(
-                "utf8"
-            )
-        )
+    """.encode("utf8"))
         f.flush()
         script = temp_file.name
         session = ShellSession()
@@ -95,7 +91,7 @@ def test_isdir():
 
 def test_exists():
     session = ShellSession()
-    (_, name) = tempfile.mkstemp()
+    _, name = tempfile.mkstemp()
     assert session.exists(name)
     os.remove(name)
     assert not session.exists(name)
@@ -105,17 +101,13 @@ def test_exists():
 def test_source_file_param(resource_test_dir):
     temp_file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=resource_test_dir)
     with temp_file as f:
-        f.write(
-            """
+        f.write("""
 if ! [ "$1" = "test" ]; then
    exit 1
 fi
 export EXPORTED_VAR=${1}1
 NON_EXPORTED_VAR=2         # but may be those should be handled??
-    """.encode(
-                "utf8"
-            )
-        )
+    """.encode("utf8"))
         f.flush()
         script = temp_file.name
         session = ShellSession()
diff --git a/reproman/support/external_versions.py b/reproman/support/external_versions.py
index a34dff42..11617ca4 100644
--- a/reproman/support/external_versions.py
+++ b/reproman/support/external_versions.py
@@ -6,10 +6,12 @@
 #
 # ## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Module to help maintain a registry of versions for external modules etc"""
+
 import sys
+from importlib.metadata import version as get_distribution_version, PackageNotFoundError
 from os import linesep
 
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 from reproman.dochelpers import exc_str
 from reproman.log import lgr
@@ -118,10 +120,9 @@ class ExternalVersions(object):
     To avoid collision between names of python modules and command line tools,
     prepend names for command line tools with `cmd:`.
 
-    It maintains a dictionary of `distuil.version.LooseVersion`s to make
-    comparisons easy. Note that even if version string conform the StrictVersion
-    "standard", LooseVersion will be used.  If version can't be deduced for the
-    external, `UnknownVersion()` is assigned.  If external is not present (can't
+    It maintains a dictionary of `LooseVersion`s to make
+    comparisons easy.  If version can't be deduced for the external,
+    `UnknownVersion()` is assigned.  If external is not present (can't
     be imported, or custom check throws exception), None is returned without
     storing it, so later call will re-evaluate fully.
     """
@@ -157,13 +158,11 @@ def _deduce_version(klass, value):
                 version = getattr(value, attr)
                 break
 
-        # try pkg_resources
+        # try importlib.metadata
         if version is None and hasattr(value, "__name__"):
             try:
-                import pkg_resources
-
-                version = pkg_resources.get_distribution(value.__name__).version
-            except Exception:
+                version = get_distribution_version(value.__name__)
+            except PackageNotFoundError:
                 pass
 
         # assume that value is the version
diff --git a/reproman/support/jobs/submitters.py b/reproman/support/jobs/submitters.py
index dbb36269..931ec1ea 100644
--- a/reproman/support/jobs/submitters.py
+++ b/reproman/support/jobs/submitters.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 from reproman.cmd import CommandError
 from reproman.dochelpers import borrowdoc
 
-
 lgr = logging.getLogger("reproman.support.jobs.submitters")
 
 
diff --git a/reproman/support/jobs/tests/test_orchestrators.py b/reproman/support/jobs/tests/test_orchestrators.py
index ccc924b5..9bf56209 100644
--- a/reproman/support/jobs/tests/test_orchestrators.py
+++ b/reproman/support/jobs/tests/test_orchestrators.py
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 from reproman.tests.skip import skipif
 from reproman.tests.utils import create_tree
 
-
 try:
     lsf_config = os.environ["REPROMAN_LSF_TEST_CONFIG"].split(":")
     lsf_config = {"host": lsf_config[0], "user": lsf_config[1], "tmpdir_root": lsf_config[2]}
diff --git a/reproman/support/protocol.py b/reproman/support/protocol.py
index 1c1c429a..7212957f 100644
--- a/reproman/support/protocol.py
+++ b/reproman/support/protocol.py
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 import logging
 import time
 
-
 lgr = logging.getLogger("reproman.protocol")
 
 
diff --git a/reproman/support/tests/test_external_versions.py b/reproman/support/tests/test_external_versions.py
index 4f90c798..5e41fc65 100644
--- a/reproman/support/tests/test_external_versions.py
+++ b/reproman/support/tests/test_external_versions.py
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 from ... import __version__
 from ...dochelpers import exc_str
 from ...version import __version__
-from ..external_versions import ExternalVersions, LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
+from ..external_versions import ExternalVersions
 from ...tests.utils import assert_true, assert_false
 from ...tests.utils import assert_equal, assert_greater_equal, assert_greater
 from ..exceptions import CommandError
diff --git a/reproman/tests/skip.py b/reproman/tests/skip.py
index b50d6289..cae1b0e2 100644
--- a/reproman/tests/skip.py
+++ b/reproman/tests/skip.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ def windows():
 `mark.skipif_NAME` and `skipif.NAME`. So, for the above example, there would
 now be `mark.skipif_windows` and `skipif.windows`.
 """
+
 import abc
 import os
 
diff --git a/reproman/tests/test_constraints.py b/reproman/tests/test_constraints.py
index 8501b92b..7bcd9b8a 100644
--- a/reproman/tests/test_constraints.py
+++ b/reproman/tests/test_constraints.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##
 """Unit tests for basic constraints functionality."""
 
-
 import sys
 
 from ..support import constraints as ct
diff --git a/reproman/tests/test_skip.py b/reproman/tests/test_skip.py
index 9a8e3c52..de831375 100644
--- a/reproman/tests/test_skip.py
+++ b/reproman/tests/test_skip.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 from reproman.tests.skip import mark
 from reproman.tests.skip import skipif
 
-
 with patch.dict("os.environ", {"REPROMAN_TESTS_NONETWORK": "1"}):
 
     @mark.skipif_no_network
diff --git a/reproman/tests/test_utils.py b/reproman/tests/test_utils.py
index 594a8bc6..d8c6e6c8 100644
--- a/reproman/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/reproman/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -437,20 +437,24 @@ def test_assure_unicode():
     eq_(assure_unicode("grandchild_äöü東"), "grandchild_äöü東")
     # now, non-utf8
     # Decoding could be deduced with high confidence when the string is
-    # really encoded in that codepage
-    mom_koi8r = "мама".encode("koi8-r")
-    eq_(assure_unicode(mom_koi8r), "мама")
-    eq_(assure_unicode(mom_koi8r, confidence=0.9), "мама")
+    # really encoded in that codepage.
+    # Use a longer string so chardet can reliably detect KOI8-R --
+    # chardet 6 rewrote single-byte detection and needs more bytes to
+    # distinguish KOI8-R from Thai (CP874) for very short inputs.
+    mom_koi8r = "мама мыла раму".encode("koi8-r")
+    eq_(assure_unicode(mom_koi8r), "мама мыла раму")
+    # chardet 7 reports ~0.22 confidence for KOI8 family variants
+    eq_(assure_unicode(mom_koi8r, confidence=0.2), "мама мыла раму")
+    # For iso-8859-1, use a short string: chardet 7 guesses cp1250 which
+    # decodes 0xe1 identically as á, so the result is correct despite the
+    # wrong encoding label.
     mom_iso8859 = "mamá".encode("iso-8859-1")
     eq_(assure_unicode(mom_iso8859), "mamá")
-    eq_(assure_unicode(mom_iso8859, confidence=0.5), "mamá")
-    # but when we mix, it does still guess something allowing to decode:
+    # chardet 7 reports very low confidence (~0.04) for short single-byte strings
+    eq_(assure_unicode(mom_iso8859, confidence=0.01), "mamá")
+    # when we mix encodings, chardet may guess wrong and fail to decode,
+    # which should raise ValueError
     mixedin = mom_koi8r + "東".encode("iso2022_jp") + "東".encode("utf-8")
-    ok_(isinstance(assure_unicode(mixedin), str))
-    # but should fail if we request high confidence result:
-
-    # FIXME: For some reason this doesn't raise a ValueError on our Travis
-    # py3.5/system_site_packages run.
     with assert_raises(ValueError):
         assure_unicode(mixedin, confidence=0.9)
     # For other, non string values, actually just returns original value
diff --git a/reproman/tests/utils.py b/reproman/tests/utils.py
index 8e48e31c..4a8d0e1e 100644
--- a/reproman/tests/utils.py
+++ b/reproman/tests/utils.py
@@ -548,14 +548,12 @@ def create_pymodule(directory):
     """
     os.makedirs(directory)
     with open(os.path.join(directory, "setup.py"), "w") as ofh:
-        ofh.write(
-            """\
+        ofh.write("""\
 from setuptools import setup
 
 setup(name='nmtest',
       version='0.1.0',
-      py_modules=['nmtest'])"""
-        )
+      py_modules=['nmtest'])""")
 
     with open(os.path.join(directory, "nmtest"), "w") as ofh:
         ofh.write("")
diff --git a/reproman/utils.py b/reproman/utils.py
index 12d41657..a2041dd9 100644
--- a/reproman/utils.py
+++ b/reproman/utils.py
@@ -495,6 +495,23 @@ def assure_bytes(s, encoding="utf-8"):
     return s.encode(encoding)
 
 
+def _chardet_detect(s: bytes) -> dict:
+    """Wrapper around chardet.detect with encoding_era=ALL for chardet >= 6.
+
+    chardet 6 defaults to encoding_era=MODERN_WEB which excludes legacy
+    encodings like KOI8-R. We need to consider ALL eras for backward
+    compatibility.
+    """
+    from chardet import detect
+    from reproman.support.external_versions import external_versions
+
+    if external_versions["chardet"] >= "6":
+        from chardet.enums import EncodingEra
+
+        return detect(s, encoding_era=EncodingEra.ALL)
+    return detect(s)
+
+
 def assure_unicode(s, encoding=None, confidence=None):
     """Convert/decode to str if of 'bytes'
 
@@ -519,9 +536,7 @@ def assure_unicode(s, encoding=None, confidence=None):
 
             lgr.debug("Failed to decode a string as utf-8: %s", exc_str(exc))
         # And now we could try to guess
-        from chardet import detect
-
-        enc = detect(s)
+        enc = _chardet_detect(s)
         denc = enc.get("encoding", None)
         if denc:
             denc_confidence = enc.get("confidence", 0)
@@ -530,7 +545,10 @@ def assure_unicode(s, encoding=None, confidence=None):
                     "Failed to auto-detect encoding with high enough "
                     "confidence. Highest confidence was %s for %s" % (denc_confidence, denc)
                 )
-            return s.decode(denc)
+            try:
+                return s.decode(denc)
+            except (UnicodeDecodeError, LookupError) as exc:
+                raise ValueError("Failed to decode with guessed encoding %s: %s" % (denc, exc))
         else:
             raise ValueError(
                 "Could not decode value as utf-8, or to guess its encoding: %s" % repr(s)
diff --git a/reproman/version.py b/reproman/version.py
index f116d579..26a7bef2 100644
--- a/reproman/version.py
+++ b/reproman/version.py
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@
         line = git.stdout.readlines()[0]
         _ = git.stderr.readlines()
         # Just take describe and replace initial '-' with .dev to be more "pythonish"
-        # Encoding simply because distutils' LooseVersion compares only StringType
-        # and thus misses in __cmp__ necessary wrapping for unicode strings
         __full_version__ = line.strip().decode("ascii").replace("-", ".dev", 1).encode()
         # To follow PEP440 we can't have all the git fanciness
         __version__ = __full_version__.split("-")[0]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index afea885e..9393ae72 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 from os.path import splitext
 from os.path import dirname
 
-from setuptools import findall
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 # manpage build imports
@@ -29,9 +28,12 @@ def findsome(subdir, extensions):
 
     Leading directory (reproman) gets stripped
     """
+    import glob
+
+    top = opj("reproman", subdir)
     return [
         f.split(pathsep, 1)[1]
-        for f in findall(opj("reproman", subdir))
+        for f in glob.glob(opj(top, "**"), recursive=True)
         if splitext(f)[-1].lstrip(".") in extensions
     ]
 
@@ -55,6 +57,7 @@ def findsome(subdir, extensions):
         "fabric>=2.3.1",
         "humanize",
         "jinja2",
+        "looseversion",
         "packaging",
         "paramiko",
         "pyOpenSSL",
@@ -160,7 +163,7 @@ def findsome(subdir, extensions):
     # python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade setuptools wheel twine
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
     packages=reproman_pkgs,
-    python_requires=">=3.9",
+    python_requires=">=3.10",
     install_requires=requires["core"],
     extras_require=requires,
     entry_points={
diff --git a/setup_support.py b/setup_support.py
index 5da72975..e3849ebe 100644
--- a/setup_support.py
+++ b/setup_support.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 import os
 from os.path import dirname, join as opj
 
-from distutils.core import Command
-from distutils.errors import DistutilsOptionError
+from setuptools import Command
+from setuptools.errors import OptionError as DistutilsOptionError
 import datetime
 import formatters as fmt
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 6f91d801..1909f769 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,27 +1,25 @@
 [tox]
-envlist = py39,py310,py311,py312
+envlist = py310,py311,py312,py313,py314
 #,flake8
 
 [testenv]
-commands = python setup.py develop
-           # -s must be used since some places to not play nicely with swallowed by nose output
-           # and there were no easy way to monkey patch nose for that
-           py.test -s {posargs}
-           # interesting hints at http://blog.ionelmc.ro/2015/04/14/tox-tricks-and-patterns/ but yet to adopt
-           #{posargs:py.test -s}
-deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
-#
 # tox 2. introduced isolation from invocation environment
 # HOME is used by annex standalone atm
 # https://git-annex.branchable.com/bugs/standalone_builds_shouldn__39__t_pollute___126____47__.ssh_with_helpers_merely_upon_annex_init/
 # so let's pass it, though in the future we should isolate
 # it back to guarantee that the tests do not rely on anything in
 # current user HOME
-passenv=HOME
+passenv = HOME,REPROMAN_*,USER,DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
+commands =
+           # -s must be used since some places to not play nicely with swallowed by nose output
+           # and there were no easy way to monkey patch nose for that
+           py.test -s {posargs}
+           # interesting hints at http://blog.ionelmc.ro/2015/04/14/tox-tricks-and-patterns/ but yet to adopt
+           #{posargs:py.test -s}
+deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
 
 [testenv:cover]
-commands = python setup.py develop
-           coverage run py.test {posargs}
+commands = coverage run py.test {posargs}
 
 [testenv:flake8]
 commands = flake8 {posargs}