diff --git a/.github/workflows/bump_version.yml b/.github/workflows/bump_version.yml
index fdb915a..95e453b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/bump_version.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/bump_version.yml
@@ -8,10 +8,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-    - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-      with:
-        python-version: 3.7
-    - run: pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel
+    - run: |
+        sudo apt-get install python3-venv make
+        pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel
     - run: echo bldr_version=$(make bump-version) | tee --append $GITHUB_ENV
     - uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v5
       with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 316b4c4..f9fc299 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -14,10 +14,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-    - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-      with:
-        python-version: 3.7
-    - run: pip3 install --upgrade pip
+    - run: |
+        sudo apt-get install python3-venv make
+        pip3 install --upgrade pip
     - run: make dev
     - run: make cs lint
 
@@ -26,12 +25,16 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        docker-image: ['ubuntu:xenial', 'ubuntu:bionic', 'ubuntu:focal', 'debian:bullseye']
+        docker-image:
+        - ubuntu:focal
+        - ubuntu:jammy
+        - ubuntu:noble
+        - debian:bullseye
+        - debian:bookworm
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-    - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-      with:
-        python-version: 3.7
-    - run: pip3 install --upgrade pip
+    - run: |
+        sudo apt-get install python3-venv make
+        pip3 install --upgrade pip
     - run: make DOCKER_IMAGE=${{ matrix.docker-image }} check-docker-image
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 5e3890a..abbcbc1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -8,10 +8,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-    - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-      with:
-        python-version: 3.7
-    - run: pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel twine
+    - run: |
+        sudo apt-get install python3-venv make
+        pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel twine
     - run: make release
     - run: make release-test
     - name: Publish a Python distribution to PyPI
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8816017..a5629c5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ check-docker-image: dev
 # Run tests on one selected docker image
 .PHONY: quick-check
 quick-check:
-	. $(VIRTUALENV)/bin/activate && pytest --docker-image=ubuntu:bionic
+	. $(VIRTUALENV)/bin/activate && pytest --docker-image=ubuntu:focal
 
 # Update requirements files for setup.py
 .PHONY: update-requirements
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ release:
 
 .PHONY: release-test
 release-test: release
-	. $(RELEASE_TEST_VENV)/bin/activate && pytest --docker-image=ubuntu:bionic
+	. $(RELEASE_TEST_VENV)/bin/activate && pytest --docker-image=ubuntu:focal
 
 # Install development dependencies (for testing) in virtualenv
 .PHONY: dev
diff --git a/bldr/bldr.py b/bldr/bldr.py
index 2b15a81..50fa092 100644
--- a/bldr/bldr.py
+++ b/bldr/bldr.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import importlib_resources
 import logging
 import os
 import pwd
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@
 from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 
 from .docker_utils import create_docker_client, DockerImageBuilder, DockerImage, DockerContainer, DEFAULT_DOCKER_TIMEOUT
-from .utils import BLDRError, BLDRSetupFailed, escape_docker_image_tag, get_resource
+from .utils import BLDRError, BLDRSetupFailed, escape_docker_image_tag
 
 
 PRE_BUILD_HOOK = "/hooks/pre-build"
@@ -106,7 +107,10 @@ def _build_image(self, tag: str, control_file: Optional[Path] = None) -> DockerI
 
         with TemporaryDirectory(prefix="bldr_docker_dir_") as tmp_dir:
             docker_files_dir = Path(tmp_dir).joinpath('docker_files')
-            shutil.copytree(str(get_resource('.')), str(docker_files_dir))
+            with importlib_resources.as_file(
+                    importlib_resources.files().joinpath('data')
+            ) as resource_dir:
+                shutil.copytree(resource_dir, docker_files_dir)
             if control_file is None:
                 docker_files_dir.joinpath('control').write_text('')
             else:
@@ -201,7 +205,7 @@ def build(self, package_dir: Path) -> DockerImage:
     @classmethod
     def selftest(cls) -> None:
         client = create_docker_client()
-        for ubuntu_release in ['xenial', 'bionic', 'focal']:
+        for ubuntu_release in ['focal', 'jammy']:
             image = DockerImage(client=client, image='ubuntu:{}'.format(ubuntu_release))
             assert image is not None, "DockerImage should be initialized without Exception"
 
diff --git a/bldr/cli.py b/bldr/cli.py
index 87e7b4d..44975a9 100644
--- a/bldr/cli.py
+++ b/bldr/cli.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def _add_common_arguments(cls, parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
 
         parser.add_argument(
             "docker_from",
-            help="Specify the value which will be used for the FROM keyword when building the docker image. Example: 'ubuntu:bionic'",
+            help="Specify the value which will be used for the FROM keyword when building the docker image. Example: 'ubuntu:jammy'",
         )
         parser.add_argument(
             '-s', '--snapshot',
diff --git a/bldr/config.py b/bldr/config.py
index 94a8a32..7c1ecf5 100644
--- a/bldr/config.py
+++ b/bldr/config.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def __init__(self, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any):
 
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
 
-    def parse_known_args(self, args: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None, namespace: Optional[argparse.Namespace] = None) -> Tuple[argparse.Namespace, List[str]]:
+    def parse_known_args(self, args: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None, namespace=None):
         if self.config_loader:
             self.set_defaults_from_config(args)
         return super().parse_known_args(args, namespace=None)
diff --git a/bldr/utils.py b/bldr/utils.py
index c794a8d..f452870 100644
--- a/bldr/utils.py
+++ b/bldr/utils.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import os
 import pwd
 from pathlib import Path
-from pkg_resources import resource_filename
 
 
 class BLDRError(Exception):
@@ -19,10 +18,6 @@ def __init__(self, msg: str, exitcode: int = 1) -> None:
         super().__init__(msg, exitcode)
 
 
-def get_resource(path: str) -> Path:
-    return Path(resource_filename('bldr', str(Path('data', path))))
-
-
 def escape_docker_image_tag(tag: str) -> str:
     return tag.replace(":", "-").replace("/", "-")
 
diff --git a/requirements-dev.in b/requirements-dev.in
index e8fe490..62b6940 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.in
+++ b/requirements-dev.in
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 autopep8
-flake8>=5  # for type annotation support and Python 3.8 compatibility in pyflakes 2.1.0+
+flake8
 mypy
 pycodestyle
 pytest
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index 0bff98f..313ae79 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -1,52 +1,46 @@
 #
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.7
+# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.8
 # by the following command:
 #
-#    pip-compile --no-emit-index-url --no-emit-trusted-host --output-file=requirements-dev.txt --resolver=backtracking requirements-dev.in
+#    pip-compile --no-emit-index-url --no-emit-trusted-host --output-file=requirements-dev.txt requirements-dev.in
 #
-autopep8==2.0.0
+autopep8==2.3.1
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
-coverage[toml]==7.2.7
-    # via
-    #   coverage
-    #   pytest-cov
+coverage[toml]==7.6.0
+    # via pytest-cov
 exceptiongroup==1.2.2
     # via pytest
-flake8==5.0.4
+flake8==7.1.0
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
-importlib-metadata==4.2.0
-    # via
-    #   flake8
-    #   pluggy
-    #   pytest
-    #   pytest-console-scripts
+importlib-metadata==8.0.0
+    # via pytest-console-scripts
 iniconfig==2.0.0
     # via pytest
 mccabe==0.7.0
     # via flake8
-mypy==1.4.1
+mypy==1.10.1
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
 mypy-extensions==1.0.0
     # via mypy
-packaging==24.0
+packaging==24.1
     # via pytest
-pluggy==1.2.0
+pluggy==1.5.0
     # via pytest
-pycodestyle==2.9.1
+pycodestyle==2.12.0
     # via
     #   -r requirements-dev.in
     #   autopep8
     #   flake8
-pyflakes==2.5.0
+pyflakes==3.2.0
     # via flake8
-pytest==7.4.4
+pytest==8.2.2
     # via
     #   -r requirements-dev.in
     #   pytest-console-scripts
     #   pytest-cov
-pytest-console-scripts==1.4.0
+pytest-console-scripts==1.4.1
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
-pytest-cov==4.1.0
+pytest-cov==5.0.0
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
 tomli==2.0.1
     # via
@@ -54,17 +48,13 @@ tomli==2.0.1
     #   coverage
     #   mypy
     #   pytest
-typed-ast==1.5.5
-    # via mypy
-types-requests==2.31.0.20231231
+types-requests==2.32.0.20240712
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
-types-setuptools==69.0.0.0
+types-setuptools==70.3.0.20240710
     # via -r requirements-dev.in
-typing-extensions==4.7.1
-    # via
-    #   importlib-metadata
-    #   mypy
-urllib3==2.0.7
+typing-extensions==4.12.2
+    # via mypy
+urllib3==2.2.2
     # via types-requests
-zipp==3.15.0
+zipp==3.19.2
     # via importlib-metadata
diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index 97c0281..880f6b5 100644
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 docker
 dockerpty
+importlib_resources
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 1a89a96..84cd493 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
 #
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.7
+# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.8
 # by the following command:
 #
-#    pip-compile --no-emit-index-url --no-emit-trusted-host --output-file=requirements.txt --resolver=backtracking requirements.in
+#    pip-compile --no-emit-index-url --no-emit-trusted-host --output-file=requirements.txt requirements.in
 #
 certifi==2024.7.4
     # via requests
 charset-normalizer==3.3.2
     # via requests
-docker==6.1.3
+docker==7.1.0
     # via -r requirements.in
 dockerpty==0.4.1
     # via -r requirements.in
 idna==3.7
     # via requests
-packaging==24.0
-    # via docker
-requests==2.31.0
+importlib-resources==6.4.0
+    # via -r requirements.in
+requests==2.32.3
     # via docker
 six==1.16.0
     # via dockerpty
-urllib3==2.0.7
+urllib3==2.2.2
     # via
     #   docker
     #   requests
-websocket-client==1.6.1
-    # via docker
+zipp==3.19.2
+    # via importlib-resources
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index af26018..0f79a19 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def get_package_data():
     extras_require={
         'dev': Path('requirements-dev.txt').read_text(),
     },
-    python_requires=">=3.7",
+    python_requires=">=3.8",
     package_data={'bldr': [
         'VERSION',
     ] + get_package_data()},
@@ -50,10 +50,11 @@ def get_package_data():
         "Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux",
         "Programming Language :: Python",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
         "Topic :: System :: Systems Administration",
         "Topic :: Utilities",
     ],
diff --git a/test/conftest.py b/test/conftest.py
index 5c7e90c..8e88713 100644
--- a/test/conftest.py
+++ b/test/conftest.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
 
-DEFAULT_DOCKER_IMAGES = ["ubuntu:xenial", "ubuntu:bionic", "ubuntu:focal", "debian:bullseye"]
+DEFAULT_DOCKER_IMAGES = ["ubuntu:focal", "ubuntu:jammy"]
 
 
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
diff --git a/test/e2e/test_cli.py b/test/e2e/test_cli.py
index b981909..02ec037 100644
--- a/test/e2e/test_cli.py
+++ b/test/e2e/test_cli.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def test_command_help(script_runner: ScriptRunner):
 def test_config_with_a_non_existent_file(script_runner: ScriptRunner, tmp_path: Path):
     config = tmp_path.joinpath('non-existent-config.json')
     ret = script_runner.run([
-        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic'
+        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:focal'
     ])
     assert not ret.success
     assert "Unable to open configuration file: '{}'".format(config) in ret.stderr
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def test_config_with_a_unreadable_file(script_runner: ScriptRunner, tmp_path: Pa
     config.touch()
     config.chmod(0)
     ret = script_runner.run([
-        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic'
+        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:focal'
     ])
     assert not ret.success
     assert "Unable to open configuration file: '{}'".format(config) in ret.stderr
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def test_config_with_a_non_json_file(script_runner: ScriptRunner, tmp_path: Path
     config.write_text('{"foo": ')
 
     ret = script_runner.run([
-        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic'
+        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:focal'
     ])
     assert not ret.success
     assert "Unable to parse configuration file: 'Expecting value: line 1 column 9 (char 8)'" in ret.stderr
diff --git a/test/integration/test_config.py b/test/integration/test_config.py
index c9ac1d6..0d762e3 100644
--- a/test/integration/test_config.py
+++ b/test/integration/test_config.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def test_config_with_an_existent_file(tmp_path: Path):
     config = tmp_path.joinpath('config.json')
     with config.open('w') as config_file:
         json.dump({'container_env': ['foo=bar', 'bar=baz']}, config_file)
-    bldr = CLI(['bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic'])
+    bldr = CLI(['bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:focal'])
     assert bldr.args.container_env == [('foo', 'bar'), ('bar', 'baz')]
 
 
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ def test_config_and_cmdline_arg_has_a_same_value_and_a_proper_type(tmp_path: Pat
     config = tmp_path.joinpath('config.json')
     with config.open('w') as config_file:
         json.dump({'hooks_dir': '/foo/hooks'}, config_file)
-    bldr = CLI(['bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic'])
+    bldr = CLI(['bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:focal'])
     hooks_dir1 = bldr.args.hooks_dir
-    bldr = CLI(['bldr', 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic', '--hooks-dir', '/foo/hooks'])
+    bldr = CLI(['bldr', 'build', 'ubuntu:focal', '--hooks-dir', '/foo/hooks'])
     hooks_dir2 = bldr.args.hooks_dir
 
     assert hooks_dir1 == Path('/foo/hooks')
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def test_config_override_with_cmdline_arg(tmp_path):
     with config.open('w') as config_file:
         json.dump({'hooks_dir': '/foo/hooks'}, config_file)
     bldr = CLI(
-        ['bldr', 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic', '--hooks-dir', '/override/hooks']
+        ['bldr', 'build', 'ubuntu:focal', '--hooks-dir', '/override/hooks']
     )
 
     assert bldr.args.hooks_dir == Path('/override/hooks')
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def test_container_env(tmp_path: Path, config_data, arguments, expected):
     with config.open('w') as config_file:
         json.dump(config_data, config_file)
     base_arguments = [
-        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:bionic',
+        'bldr', '--config', str(config), 'build', 'ubuntu:focal',
     ]
     bldr = CLI(base_arguments + arguments)
 
diff --git a/test/unit/test_config.py b/test/unit/test_config.py
index 3c6b2d2..503cf99 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_config.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_config.py
@@ -99,5 +99,5 @@ def test_argparse_inheritance(tmp_path: Path):
 def test_argparse_api_definitions():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     assert hasattr(parser, "_actions"), "parser object should have '_actions' attribute"
-    assert type(parser._actions) == list, "parser's '_actions' attribute must be a list"
+    assert isinstance(parser._actions, list), "parser's '_actions' attribute must be a list"
     assert hasattr(argparse, "_StoreAction"), "argparse must have a '_StoreAction' class defined"
diff --git a/test/unit/test_resources.py b/test/unit/test_resources.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e2ff3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/test_resources.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import importlib_resources
+
+
+def test_data_resource():
+    assert importlib_resources.files('bldr').joinpath('data').is_dir()