diff --git a/containers/build-containers.sh b/containers/build-containers.sh
index d676cbbb6..10e65020e 100755
--- a/containers/build-containers.sh
+++ b/containers/build-containers.sh
@@ -108,20 +108,18 @@ IMAGE_REPO=daphneeu/$DAPHNE_TARGET
 build_daphne -dev
 
 $USE_SUDO docker tag $IMAGE_REPO:$DAPHNE_TAG daphneeu/daphne-dev:latest_${ARCH}_BASE
-ubuntuVersion=20.04
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Images for DAPHNE development (CUDA)
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 DAPHNE_TARGET=daphne-dev
-CUDA_TAG=${cudaVersion}-cudnn8-devel-ubuntu${ubuntuVersion}
+CUDA_TAG=${cudaVersion}-cudnn-devel-ubuntu${ubuntuVersion}
 BASE_IMAGE=nvidia/cuda:$CUDA_TAG
 DAPHNE_TAG=${TIMESTAMP_DATE}_${ARCH}_CUDA_${CUDA_TAG}
 IMAGE_REPO=daphneeu/$DAPHNE_TARGET
 build_daphne -dev
 
 $USE_SUDO docker tag $IMAGE_REPO:$DAPHNE_TAG daphneeu/daphne-dev:latest_${ARCH}_CUDA
-ubuntuVersion=20.04
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Images for DAPHNE development (OneAPI)
@@ -149,7 +147,7 @@ $USE_SUDO docker tag $IMAGE_REPO:$DAPHNE_TAG daphneeu/daphne:latest_${ARCH}_BASE
 # Images for running DAPHNE (CUDA)
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 DAPHNE_TARGET=daphne
-CUDA_TAG=${cudaVersion}-cudnn8-runtime-ubuntu${ubuntuVersion}
+CUDA_TAG=${cudaVersion}-cudnn-runtime-ubuntu${ubuntuVersion}
 DAPHNE_TAG=${TIMESTAMP_DATE}_${ARCH}_CUDA_${CUDA_TAG}
 IMAGE_REPO=daphneeu/$DAPHNE_TARGET
 BASE_IMAGE=daphneeu/daphne-dev
diff --git a/containers/daphne-deps.Dockerfile b/containers/daphne-deps.Dockerfile
index 2a8ee99aa..849ace880 100644
--- a/containers/daphne-deps.Dockerfile
+++ b/containers/daphne-deps.Dockerfile
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 
 # defaults:
 ARG BASE_IMAGE=ubuntu:20.04
-ARG CMAKE_VERSION=3.29.3
+ARG CMAKE_VERSION=3.30.3
 ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
 ARG DEBCONF_NOWARNINGS="yes"
 ARG DAPHNE_DIR=/daphne
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ RUN apt-get -qq -y update && apt-get -y upgrade \
     && apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install  \
     ca-certificates file git openssh-client unzip wget tar \
     libomp-dev  libpfm4-dev libssl-dev libxml2-dev uuid-dev zlib1g-dev \
-    build-essential clang gfortran lld llvm llvm-10-tools ninja-build openjdk-11-jdk-headless pkg-config python3 \
+    build-essential clang gfortran lld llvm llvm-18-tools ninja-build openjdk-11-jdk-headless pkg-config python3 \
+
     && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 RUN ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/$TZ /etc/localtime
 
@@ -88,9 +89,10 @@ COPY --from=build /usr/local/lib/ /usr/local/lib/
 COPY --from=build /usr/local/share/ /usr/local/share/
 RUN ldconfig
 
-FROM daphneeu/daphne-deps as github-action
+FROM daphneeu/daphne-deps AS github-action
 RUN apt-get -qq -y update && apt-get -y upgrade && apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install  \
-    moreutils ccache python3-pip python3-dev graphviz-dev \
+    moreutils ccache python3-pip python3-dev graphviz-dev python3-numpy python3-pandas python3-networkx \
     && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-#python3-numpy python3-pandas python3-networkx \
-RUN pip install -U pip numpy pandas networkx #tensorflow torch
\ No newline at end of file
+# this is a temporary workaround to make the lit code (from the llvm-*-tools package) available to some pre-Ubuntu24 \
+# test cases in open pull requests
+RUN ln -s /usr/lib/llvm-18 /usr/lib/llvm-10
diff --git a/containers/daphne-dev.Dockerfile b/containers/daphne-dev.Dockerfile
index 9af7b34f8..026bb2ed1 100644
--- a/containers/daphne-dev.Dockerfile
+++ b/containers/daphne-dev.Dockerfile
@@ -24,57 +24,13 @@ ARG CMAKE_VERSION=3.29.3
 ARG TIMESTAMP=0
 ARG TZ=Etc/UTC
 
-#FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as base
-#ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
-#ARG DEBCONF_NOWARNINGS="yes"
-#RUN apt-get -qq -y update && apt-get -y upgrade \
-#    && apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install  \
-#    ca-certificates file git unzip wget tar \
-#    libomp-dev libssl-dev libxml2-dev uuid-dev zlib1g-dev \
-#    build-essential clang gfortran lld llvm ninja-build openjdk-11-jdk-headless pkg-config \
-#    && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-#
-#FROM base as with-cmake
-#ARG NUM_CORES=4
-#ARG CMAKE_VERSION
-#ARG BUILD_DIR=/build-cmake
-#WORKDIR $BUILD_DIR
-#RUN wget -qO- https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v$CMAKE_VERSION/cmake-$CMAKE_VERSION.tar.gz | tar xzf \
-#    - --strip-components=1
-#RUN ./bootstrap --parallel=$NUM_CORES --generator=Ninja --no-qt-gui --prefix=/usr/local
-#RUN ninja
-#RUN strip --strip-unneeded bin/*
-#RUN ninja install
-#WORKDIR /
-#RUN rm -rf ${BUILD_DIR}
-#
-#FROM with-cmake as daphne-deps-compile
-#ARG DAPHNE_DIR=/daphne
-#ARG DAPHNE_REPO=https://github.com/daphne-eu/daphne.git
-#ARG DAPHNE_BRANCH=main
-#ARG TIMESTAMP
-#ARG CREATION_DATE=0
-#ARG GIT_HASH=0
-#LABEL "org.opencontainers.image.source"="${DAPHNE_REPO}"
-#LABEL "org.opencontainers.image.base.name"="${BASE_IMAGE}"
-#LABEL "org.opencontainers.image.version"="$TIMESTAMP"
-#LABEL "org.opencontainers.image.created"="${CREATION_DATE}"
-#LABEL "org.opencontainers.image.revision"="${GIT_HASH}"
-#RUN git clone --depth=1 --single-branch --branch=$DAPHNE_BRANCH $DAPHNE_REPO $DAPHNE_DIR
-#WORKDIR $DAPHNE_DIR
-#RUN ./build.sh --no-fancy --no-submodule-update --installPrefix /usr/local
-#RUN find /usr/local -exec file {} \; | grep -e "not stripped" | cut -d ":" -f 1 | xargs strip --strip-unneeded
-#RUN rm -rf $DAPHNE_DIR
-#RUN ldconfig
-#WORKDIR /
-
 FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} AS daphne-dev
 ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
 ARG TZ
 RUN apt-get -qq -y update && apt-get -y upgrade && apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install  \
     ca-certificates file git openssh-client unzip wget tar \
     libomp-dev  libpfm4-dev libssl-dev libxml2-dev uuid-dev zlib1g-dev \
-    build-essential clang gfortran lld llvm ninja-build openjdk-11-jdk-headless pkg-config python3-numpy python3-pandas \
+    build-essential clang gfortran lld llvm llvm-18-tools ninja-build openjdk-11-jdk-headless pkg-config python3-numpy python3-pandas \
     vim nano rsync sudo iputils-ping virtualenv openssh-server iproute2 git htop gdb lldb lld gpg-agent net-tools \
     software-properties-common ca-certificates file unzip wget tar zstd \
     ccache python3-pip python3-networkx python3-dev graphviz-dev \
@@ -84,60 +40,11 @@ COPY --from=daphneeu/daphne-deps /usr/local/include/ /usr/local/include/
 COPY --from=daphneeu/daphne-deps /usr/local/lib/ /usr/local/lib/
 COPY --from=daphneeu/daphne-deps /usr/local/share/ /usr/local/share/
 RUN ldconfig
+# this is a temporary workaround to make the lit code (from the llvm-*-tools package) available to some pre-Ubuntu24 \
+# test cases when run locally in the dev container
+RUN ln -s /usr/lib/llvm-18 /usr/lib/llvm-10
 RUN ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/$TZ /etc/localtime
-#RUN useradd -rm -d /home/daphnedev -s /bin/bash -g users -G sudo -u 2000 daphnedev
-#RUN mkdir -p /home/daphnedev/.ssh
-#RUN chmod 700 /home/daphnedev/.ssh
 COPY entrypoint-interactive.sh /
 RUN mkdir -p /var/run/sshd
 EXPOSE 22
 ENTRYPOINT [ "/entrypoint-interactive.sh"]
-
-
-## Include OneAPI:
-#COPY --from=intel/oneapi-basekit:2023.1.0-devel-ubuntu20.04 /opt/intel /opt/
-## Directives from https://github.com/intel/oneapi-containers/blob/master/images/docker/basekit/Dockerfile.ubuntu-20.04
-#ENV LANG=C.UTF-8
-#ENV ACL_BOARD_VENDOR_PATH='/opt/Intel/OpenCLFPGA/oneAPI/Boards'
-#ENV ADVISOR_2023_DIR='/opt/intel/oneapi/advisor/2023.1.0'
-#ENV APM='/opt/intel/oneapi/advisor/2023.1.0/perfmodels'
-#ENV CCL_CONFIGURATION='cpu_gpu_dpcpp'
-#ENV CCL_ROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/ccl/2021.9.0'
-#ENV CLASSPATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//lib/mpi.jar:/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0/lib/onedal.jar'
-#ENV CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/tbb/2021.9.0/env/..:/opt/intel/oneapi/dnnl/2023.1.0/cpu_dpcpp_gpu_dpcpp/../lib/cmake:/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/IntelDPCPP:/opt/intel/oneapi/ccl/2021.9.0/lib/cmake/oneCCL'
-#ENV CMPLR_ROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0'
-#ENV CPATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/tbb/2021.9.0/env/../include:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//include:/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/ippcp/2021.7.0/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/ipp/2021.8.0/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/dpl/2022.1.0/linux/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/dnnl/2023.1.0/cpu_dpcpp_gpu_dpcpp/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/dev-utilities/2021.9.0/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0/include:/opt/intel/oneapi/ccl/2021.9.0/include/cpu_gpu_dpcpp'
-#ENV DAALROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0'
-#ENV DALROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0'
-#ENV DAL_MAJOR_BINARY='1'
-#ENV DAL_MINOR_BINARY='1'
-#ENV DIAGUTIL_PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/vtune/2023.1.0/sys_check/vtune_sys_check.py:/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/sys_check/debugger_sys_check.py:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/sys_check/sys_check.sh:/opt/intel/oneapi/advisor/2023.1.0/sys_check/advisor_sys_check.py:'
-#ENV DNNLROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/dnnl/2023.1.0/cpu_dpcpp_gpu_dpcpp'
-#ENV DPL_ROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/dpl/2022.1.0'
-#ENV FI_PROVIDER_PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//libfabric/lib/prov:/usr/lib64/libfabric'
-#ENV FPGA_VARS_ARGS=''
-#ENV FPGA_VARS_DIR='/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib/oclfpga'
-#ENV GDB_INFO='/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/documentation/info/'
-#ENV INFOPATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/gdb/intel64/lib'
-#ENV INTELFPGAOCLSDKROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib/oclfpga'
-#ENV INTEL_PYTHONHOME='/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/dep'
-#ENV IPPCP_TARGET_ARCH='intel64'
-#ENV IPPCRYPTOROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/ippcp/2021.7.0'
-#ENV IPPROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/ipp/2021.8.0'
-#ENV IPP_TARGET_ARCH='intel64'
-#ENV I_MPI_ROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0'
-#ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/tbb/2021.9.0/env/../lib/intel64/gcc4.8:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//libfabric/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//lib/release:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/ippcp/2021.7.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/ipp/2021.8.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/dnnl/2023.1.0/cpu_dpcpp_gpu_dpcpp/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/gdb/intel64/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/libipt/intel64/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/dep/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib/x64:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib/oclfpga/host/linux64/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/compiler/lib/intel64_lin:/opt/intel/oneapi/ccl/2021.9.0/lib/cpu_gpu_dpcpp:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH'
-#ENV LIBRARY_PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/tbb/2021.9.0/env/../lib/intel64/gcc4.8:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//libfabric/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//lib/release:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/ippcp/2021.7.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/ipp/2021.8.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/dnnl/2023.1.0/cpu_dpcpp_gpu_dpcpp/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/compiler/lib/intel64_lin:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib:/opt/intel/oneapi/ccl/2021.9.0/lib/cpu_gpu_dpcpp'
-#ENV MANPATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0/man:/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/documentation/man:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/documentation/en/man/common::'
-#ENV MKLROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0'
-#ENV NLSPATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0/lib/intel64/locale/%l_%t/%N:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/compiler/lib/intel64_lin/locale/%l_%t/%N'
-#ENV OCL_ICD_FILENAMES='libintelocl_emu.so:libalteracl.so:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib/x64/libintelocl.so'
-#ENV ONEAPI_ROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi'
-#ENV PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/vtune/2023.1.0/bin64:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//libfabric/bin:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0//bin:/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0/bin/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/dev-utilities/2021.9.0/bin:/opt/intel/oneapi/debugger/2023.1.0/gdb/intel64/bin:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/lib/oclfpga/bin:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/bin/intel64:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/linux/bin:/opt/intel/oneapi/advisor/2023.1.0/bin64:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:$PATH'
-#ENV PKG_CONFIG_PATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/vtune/2023.1.0/include/pkgconfig/lib64:/opt/intel/oneapi/tbb/2021.9.0/env/../lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/mpi/2021.9.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2023.1.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/ippcp/2021.7.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/dpl/2022.1.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/dnnl/2023.1.0/cpu_dpcpp_gpu_dpcpp/../lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/dal/2023.1.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/compiler/2023.1.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/ccl/2021.9.0/lib/pkgconfig:/opt/intel/oneapi/advisor/2023.1.0/include/pkgconfig/lib64:'
-#ENV PYTHONPATH='/opt/intel/oneapi/advisor/2023.1.0/pythonapi'
-#ENV SETVARS_COMPLETED='1'
-#ENV TBBROOT='/opt/intel/oneapi/tbb/2021.9.0/env/..'
-#ENV VTUNE_PROFILER_2023_DIR='/opt/intel/oneapi/vtune/2023.1.0'
-#ENV VTUNE_PROFILER_DIR='/opt/intel/oneapi/vtune/2023.1.0'
-#
diff --git a/software-package-versions.txt b/software-package-versions.txt
index 003421674..72af834d4 100644
--- a/software-package-versions.txt
+++ b/software-package-versions.txt
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ abslVersion=20230802.1
 antlrVersion=4.9.2
 arrowVersion=13.0.0
 catch2Version=2.13.8
-cmakeVersion=3.30.2
-cudaVersion=12.2.2
+cmakeVersion=3.30.3
+cudaVersion=12.6.1
 eigenVersion=3.4.0
 grpcVersion=1.38.0
 hwlocVersion=2.9.3
@@ -29,4 +29,4 @@ openBlasVersion=0.3.23
 openMPIVersion=4.1.5
 papiVersion=7.0.1
 spdlogVersion=1.11.0
-ubuntuVersion=20.04
+ubuntuVersion=24.04
diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
index c63f904a4..6575d73de 100755
--- a/test.sh
+++ b/test.sh
@@ -73,9 +73,9 @@ if [ $BUILD_DAPHNE -gt 0 ]; then
 fi
 
 # Preparations for running DaphneLib (Python API) tests and MLIR codegen tests (LLVM LIT)
-export PYTHONPATH="$PYTHONPATH:$PWD/src/api/python/:/usr/lib/llvm-10/build/utils/lit/"
+export PYTHONPATH="$PYTHONPATH:$PWD/src/api/python/:/usr/lib/llvm-10/build/utils/lit/:/usr/lib/llvm-18/build/utils/lit/"
 export DAPHNELIB_DIR_PATH=$PWD/lib
-export PATH=$PWD/bin:/usr/lib/llvm-10/bin:$PATH
+export PATH=$PWD/bin:/usr/lib/llvm-10/bin:/usr/lib/llvm-18/bin:$PATH
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$PWD/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 
 # Silence TensorFlow warnings in DaphneLib test cases.