diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f81fe385..336c40e4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ Until May 2022 (inclusive) no changelog was kept. We might try to reconstruct it
 * Xerces-C: Update to 3.3.0
 * flatbuffers: Update to 25.2.10
 * XRootD: Update to 5.8.4
+* boost: Updated from version 1.70.0 to version 1.74.0
+* Geant4: Updated from version 10.7.3 to version 11.3.0
+* VMC: Updated from version 1.1-p1 to version 2.1
+* GEANT4_VMC: Updated from version 5-4 to 6-7
+* VGM: Updated from version 4.9 to 5.1
+* FairShip: provide path to python libraries from sysconfig, instead of $PYTHON_ROOT
 
 ## [25.08](https://github.com/ShipSoft/shipdist/tree/25.08)
 
diff --git a/defaults-release.sh b/defaults-release.sh
index b9767b2e..b36ac2d0 100644
--- a/defaults-release.sh
+++ b/defaults-release.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ overrides:
     tag: v1.6.3
   boost:
     version:  "%(tag_basename)s"
-    tag: "v1.70.0"
+    tag: "v1.74.0"
     requires:
       - "GCC-Toolchain:(?!osx)"
       - Python
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ overrides:
       grep $REQUESTED_VERSION $FAIRLOGGER_ROOT/include/fairlogger/Version.h
   GEANT4:
     version: "%(tag_basename)s"
-    tag: v10.7.3
+    tag: v11.3.0
     source: https://github.com/geant4/geant4.git
     prefer_system_check: |
       ls $GEANT4_ROOT/bin > /dev/null && \
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ overrides:
      G4SAIDXSDATA : "`find ${G4INSTALL} $G4DATASEARCHOPT  '*data*G4SAIDDATA*'`"
   GEANT4_VMC:
     version: "%(tag_basename)s"
-    tag: v5-4
+    tag: v6-7
     prefer_system_check: |
       ls $GEANT4_VMC_ROOT/bin > /dev/null && \
       ls $GEANT4_VMC_ROOT/lib/libg4root.so > /dev/null && \
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ overrides:
       true
   VMC:
     version: "%(tag_basename)s"
-    tag: v1-1-p1
+    tag: v2-1
     prefer_system_check: |
       ls $VMC_ROOT/include > /dev/null && \
       true
diff --git a/fairship.sh b/fairship.sh
index c8c514d1..555a101c 100644
--- a/fairship.sh
+++ b/fairship.sh
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ cmake $SOURCEDIR                                                 \
       -DHEPMC_INCLUDE_DIR=$HEPMC_ROOT/include/HepMC              \
       -DEVTGEN_INCLUDE_DIR=$EVTGEN_ROOT/include                  \
       -DEVTGEN_LIBRARY_DIR=$EVTGEN_ROOT/lib                      \
-      ${PYTHON_ROOT:+-DPYTHON_LIBRARY=$PYTHON_ROOT/lib}          \
-      ${PYTHON_ROOT:+-DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=$PYTHON_ROOT/include/python3.6m/} \
+      -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=$(python -c "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_path('include'))")  \
+      -DPYTHON_LIBRARY=$(python -c "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBDIR'))") \
       -DPYTHIA8_DIR=$PYTHIA_ROOT                                 \
       -DPYTHIA8_INCLUDE_DIR=$PYTHIA_ROOT/include                 \
       -DGEANT4_ROOT=$GEANT4_ROOT                                 \
diff --git a/python-modules.sh b/python-modules.sh
index 4b7224d7..8b087ebc 100644
--- a/python-modules.sh
+++ b/python-modules.sh
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ case $ARCHITECTURE in
     . "$PYTHON_MODULES_INSTALLROOT/bin/activate" ;;
 esac
 
+python3 -m pip install setuptools
 # Major.minor version of Python
 pyver="$(python3 -c 'import distutils.sysconfig; print(distutils.sysconfig.get_python_version())')"
 
diff --git a/vgm.sh b/vgm.sh
index f865fc52..08a38de1 100644
--- a/vgm.sh
+++ b/vgm.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package: vgm
 version: "%(tag_basename)s%(defaults_upper)s"
-tag: "v4-9"
+tag: "v5-1"
 source: https://github.com/vmc-project/vgm.git
 requires:
   - ROOT