diff --git a/.github/template_gitref b/.github/template_gitref
index 70eef8995..22e8d0a9d 100644
--- a/.github/template_gitref
+++ b/.github/template_gitref
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2021.08.26-405-g3845bbc
+2021.08.26-406-g5f397e3
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/install.sh b/.github/workflows/scripts/install.sh
index 4d188d79d..89f162da3 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/scripts/install.sh
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ cat >> vars/main.yaml << VARSYAML
 pulp_env: {}
 pulp_settings: {"allowed_content_checksums": ["sha1", "sha224", "sha256", "sha384", "sha512"], "allowed_export_paths": ["/tmp"], "allowed_import_paths": ["/tmp"], "flatpak_index": true}
 pulp_scheme: https
-pulp_default_container: ghcr.io/pulp/pulp-ci-centos:latest
+pulp_default_container: ghcr.io/pulp/pulp-ci-centos9:latest
 VARSYAML
 
 if [ "$TEST" = "s3" ]; then
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index b89194a73..ae789d0c8 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ include COPYRIGHT
 include functest_requirements.txt
 include test_requirements.txt
 include unittest_requirements.txt
+exclude releasing.md
diff --git a/functest_requirements.txt b/functest_requirements.txt
index d58e56db4..2bc2d8e43 100644
--- a/functest_requirements.txt
+++ b/functest_requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 pulp-smash @ git+https://github.com/pulp/pulp-smash.git
 pytest<8
 python-gnupg
+pytest-xdist
+pytest-timeout
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4712a7a7d..815b7ea7c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -56,19 +56,33 @@ ignore = [
 current_version = "2.19.4.dev"
 commit = false
 tag = false
-parse = "(?P<major>\\d+)\\.(?P<minor>\\d+)\\.(?P<patch>\\d+)(\\.(?P<release>[a-z]+))?"
+parse = "(?P<major>\\d+)\\.(?P<minor>\\d+)\\.(?P<alpha>0a)?(?P<patch>\\d+)(\\.(?P<release>[a-z]+))?"
 serialize = [
-	"{major}.{minor}.{patch}.{release}",
-	"{major}.{minor}.{patch}",
+  "{major}.{minor}.{patch}.{release}",
+  "{major}.{minor}.{patch}",
+  "{major}.{minor}.{alpha}{patch}.{release}",
+  "{major}.{minor}.{alpha}{patch}",
 ]
 
+[tool.bumpversion.parts.alpha]
+# This section is managed by the plugin template. Do not edit manually.
+
+# This is sort of a hack. In PEP440 prerelease markers work quite differently.
+# But this fits best with the way we have been doing release versions.
+optional_value = "final"
+values = [
+  "0a",
+  "final",
+]
+independent = true
+
 [tool.bumpversion.parts.release]
 # This section is managed by the plugin template. Do not edit manually.
 
 optional_value = "prod"
 values = [
-	"dev",
-	"prod",
+  "dev",
+  "prod",
 ]
 
 [[tool.bumpversion.files]]
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e13b435f3..e91780b25 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 jsonschema>=4.4,<4.22
-pulpcore>=3.43.0,<3.55
+pulpcore>=3.49,<3.55
 pyjwt[crypto]>=2.4,<2.9
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 842ef314d..875fa1dcb 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     author="Pulp Team",
     author_email="pulp-list@redhat.com",
     url="https://pulpproject.org/",
-    python_requires=">=3.8",
+    python_requires=">=3.9",
     install_requires=requirements,
     include_package_data=True,
     packages=find_packages(exclude=["tests", "tests.*"]),
diff --git a/template_config.yml b/template_config.yml
index 0b5b85f0e..c403cb8a5 100644
--- a/template_config.yml
+++ b/template_config.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ check_commit_message: true
 check_gettext: true
 check_manifest: true
 check_stray_pulpcore_imports: true
-ci_base_image: ghcr.io/pulp/pulp-ci-centos
+ci_base_image: ghcr.io/pulp/pulp-ci-centos9
 ci_env: {}
 ci_trigger: '{pull_request: {branches: [''*'']}}'
 cli_package: pulp-cli