diff --git a/.github/workflows/linting.yml b/.github/workflows/linting.yml
index f5c3eaf1dcce..bb4084c3781f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/linting.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/linting.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ concurrency:
 
 jobs:
   python-linting:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # 4.2.2
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
index 79c0ba72027e..6b63942df1af 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python: ['3.9', '3.11']
+        python: ['3.7', '3.11']
         modules_tool: [Lmod-8.6.8]
         module_syntax: [Lua, Tcl]
       fail-fast: false
@@ -42,11 +42,6 @@ jobs:
         # sudo apt-get update
         # for modules tool
         sudo apt-get install lua5.2 liblua5.2-dev lua-filesystem lua-posix tcl tcl-dev
-        # fix for lua-posix packaging issue, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lua-posix/+bug/1752082
-        # needed for Ubuntu 18.04, but not for Ubuntu 20.04, so skipping symlinking if posix.so already exists
-        if [ ! -e /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lua/5.2/posix.so ] ; then
-            sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lua/5.2/posix_c.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lua/5.2/posix.so
-        fi
         # for testing OpenMPI-system*eb we need to have Open MPI installed
         sudo apt-get install libopenmpi-dev openmpi-bin
         # required for test_dep_graph
@@ -148,10 +143,10 @@ jobs:
           eb --prefix /tmp/$USER/$GITHUB_SHA --sourcepath /tmp/sources M4-1.4.18.eb
 
   test-sdist:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python: [3.6, '3.11']
+        python: [3.7, '3.11']
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # 4.2.2