diff --git a/ci/apptainer_by_hand.sh b/ci/apptainer_by_hand.sh
index b8008be5ceca9b0b32aa01e669566cc04dcbc4eb..6e73e2b1c7696d606671959147db5c76bebaf98a 100755
--- a/ci/apptainer_by_hand.sh
+++ b/ci/apptainer_by_hand.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ declare -A slurm_options
 slurm_options["helvetios"]="-N1 -n1 -c 36"
 slurm_options["izar"]="-c 40 --gpus 2 -p izar"
 slurm_options["jed"]="-N1 -n1 -c 72 -p jed -q jed"
-slurm_options["kuma-l40s"]="-N1 -n1 -c 64 -q scitas -p l40s"
-slurm_options["kuma-h100"]="-N1 -n1 -c 64 -q scitas -p h100"
+slurm_options["kuma-l40s"]="-N1 -n1 -c 16 --mem 64G -q scitas -p l40s"
+slurm_options["kuma-h100"]="-N1 -n1 -c 16 --mem 64G -q scitas -p h100"
 
 declare -A apptainer_options
 apptainer_options["helvetios"]=""
@@ -31,20 +31,19 @@ export CI_PROJECT_DIR=$PWD
 export GPG_PRIVATE_KEY=${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/stacks/buildcache.pem
 export MOUNT_POINT=$(jq -Mrc .stack.mount_point ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/stacks/${stack}/config.json)
 
-APPTAINER_IMAGE=~/rhel9-kuma.sif
+APPTAINER_IMAGE="docker://registry.hpc.epfl.ch/scitas/software-stack:rhel94-kuma"
 export image_name=${stack}-${environment}-${SQUASHFS_ID}-${CI_PIPELINE_ID}
 
 ./ci/prepare_squashfs.sh
 
 squashfs_image=$(ls -t1 ${CI_DATA_LT}/squashfs-cache/${image_name}*.sqfs 2> /dev/null | head -1)
 
-srun ${slurm_options[$environment]} --time 1-0:0:0 --pty apptainer run \
+srun ${slurm_options[$environment]} --time 3-0:0:0 --pty apptainer run \
     ${apptainer_options[$environment]} \
     --writable-tmpfs \
     --cleanenv \
     -H $(mktemp -d -p ${FAKEHOME}/):/home/$(id -un) \
     --bind ${CI_DATA_LT}/buildcache:${MOUNT_POINT}/buildcache \
-    --bind /ssoft/spack/spack-mirror-restricted:${MOUNT_POINT}/spack-mirror-restricted \
     --bind /ssoft/spack/external:${MOUNT_POINT}/external \
     --bind ${CI_DATA_LT}/spack-mirror:${MOUNT_POINT}/spack-mirror \
     --bind /ssoft/spack/spack-mirror-restricted:${MOUNT_POINT}/spack-mirror-restricted \
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/mark_explicit_cpu b/stacks/pinot-noir/mark_explicit_cpu
index 32d0fbe9a7e7f6613c9dc8ff105adfe56535590e..b3bc2927f165d943fe2e97c784f861609822d8fd 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/mark_explicit_cpu
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/mark_explicit_cpu
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 py-matplotlib %gcc@13.2.0
 py-numpy %gcc@13.2.0 ^openblas threads=openmp
 py-scipy %gcc@13.2.0
-gmp %gcc@11.4.1 ^gcc-runtime@11.4.1%gcc@13.2.0
+gmp %gcc@11.4.1 ^gcc-runtime@11.4.1
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
index 2c43a26965a5a3927b85c70bdf8ac86d43a7e538..87867ac414732b39b6ec2b7143081500f07c3b63 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
@@ -300,11 +300,6 @@ packages:
       when: '%clang'
     - spec: 'target={target}'
       when: '%oneapi'
-    prefer:
-    - spec: '%gcc@{gcc_version}'
-      when: '%gcc'
-    - spec: 'target={target}'
-      when: '%gcc@{gcc_version}'
 
   py-cppy:
     require: ['@1.2.1']
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
index f1b44e161aac60ac695e1d2013b49c949c880aab..0a0f03380569b979c92e445abe16b5aad0dc58ab 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
@@ -32,6 +32,13 @@ spack:
     scalapack:
       require: ['netlib-scalapack']
 
+    python:
+      prefer:
+        - spec: '%gcc@{gcc_version}'
+          when: '%gcc'
+        - spec: 'target={target}'
+          when: '%gcc@{gcc_version}'
+
   definitions:
     # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # PE definition
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack_nvhpc.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack_nvhpc.yaml
index 9804e3a76bee229b43c57e54ede6878f0752f128..437d3e453373fe4bb5958ba4e94e57b39568fb56 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack_nvhpc.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack_nvhpc.yaml
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ spack:
     icu4c:
       require: ['%gcc']
 
+    python:
+      require: ['%gcc@{system_gcc_version}']
+
   definitions:
     # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # PE definition
@@ -49,9 +52,6 @@ spack:
     - blas_nvhpc:
         - "[virtuals=blas,lapack] nvhpc +blas +lapack"
 
-    - python_nvhpc:
-        - python@3.11.7 %gcc@{system_gcc_version}
-
   specs:
     - matrix:
         - [$compilers_specs]