@@ -82,11 +82,16 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        python-version: [cp38-cp38, cp39-cp39, cp310-cp310, cp311-cp311, cp312-cp312]
+        # cp38 dropped: Python 3.8 is EOL and its leg fails outright.
+        python-version: [cp39-cp39, cp310-cp310, cp311-cp311, cp312-cp312]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
       py: /opt/python/${{ matrix.python-version }}/bin/python
-      img: quay.io/pypa/manylinux2014_aarch64
+      # manylinux_2_28, not manylinux2014: cbor2 (a hard dependency via
+      # autobahn) ships only manylinux_2_28 aarch64 wheels for cp311+, so the
+      # 2014 (glibc 2.17) container can't use them and falls back to a
+      # from-source C build that fails under QEMU.
+      img: quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_28_aarch64
 
     steps:
 
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
     ],
     ext_modules=extensions,
     install_requires=install_requires,
-    python_requires=">=3.7",
+    python_requires=">=3.8",
     package_data={'vpython': ['vpython_data/*',
                               'vpython_libraries/*',
                               'vpython_libraries/images/*']},
 
@@ -1,17 +1,20 @@
-from pkg_resources import get_distribution, DistributionNotFound
+# importlib.metadata, not pkg_resources: fresh Python 3.12+ environments no
+# longer ship setuptools, so `import pkg_resources` raises ModuleNotFoundError
+# the moment `import vpython` runs (caught by CI's macos-3.12 leg).
+from importlib.metadata import version as _dist_version, PackageNotFoundError
 
 from .gs_version import glowscript_version
 
 try:
-    __version__ = get_distribution(__name__).version
-except DistributionNotFound:
+    __version__ = _dist_version(__name__)
+except PackageNotFoundError:
     # package is not installed
     pass
 __gs_version__ = glowscript_version()
 
 del glowscript_version
-del get_distribution
-del DistributionNotFound
+del _dist_version
+del PackageNotFoundError
 
 # Keep the remaining imports later to  ensure that __version__ and
 #  __gs_version__ exist before importing vpython, which itself imports