diff --git a/.github/workflows/apt.txt b/.github/workflows/apt.txt
index 1191cf541ec..22dc672cdac 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/apt.txt
+++ b/.github/workflows/apt.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ libgdal-dev
 libgl1-mesa-dev
 libglu1-mesa-dev
 liblapacke-dev
+libncurses-dev
 libnetcdf-dev
 libpdal-dev
 libpng-dev
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04.sh b/.github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..677c46d5f33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# The make step requires something like:
+# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$PREFIX/lib"
+# further steps additionally require:
+# export PATH="$PATH:$PREFIX/bin"
+
+# fail on non-zero return code from a subprocess
+set -e
+
+# print commands
+set -x
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 PREFIX"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Adding -Werror to make's CFLAGS is a workaround for configuring with
+# an old version of configure, which issues compiler warnings and
+# errors out. This may be removed with upgraded configure.in file.
+makecmd="make"
+if [[ "$#" -ge 2 ]]; then
+    ARGS=("$@")
+    makecmd="make CFLAGS='$CFLAGS ${ARGS[@]:1}' CXXFLAGS='$CXXFLAGS ${ARGS[@]:1}'"
+fi
+
+# non-existent variables as an errors
+set -u
+
+export INSTALL_PREFIX=$1
+
+./configure \
+    --enable-largefile \
+    --prefix="$INSTALL_PREFIX/" \
+    --with-blas \
+    --with-bzlib \
+    --with-cxx \
+    --with-fftw \
+    --with-freetype \
+    --with-freetype-includes="/usr/include/freetype2/" \
+    --with-geos \
+    --with-lapack \
+    --with-libsvm \
+    --with-netcdf \
+    --with-openmp \
+    --with-pdal \
+    --with-proj-share=/usr/share/proj \
+    --with-pthread \
+    --with-readline \
+    --with-sqlite \
+    --with-tiff \
+    --with-zstd
+
+eval $makecmd
+make install
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04_without_x.sh b/.github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04_without_x.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..e3475f659e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04_without_x.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# The make step requires something like:
+# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$PREFIX/lib"
+# further steps additionally require:
+# export PATH="$PATH:$PREFIX/bin"
+
+# fail on non-zero return code from a subprocess
+set -e
+
+# print commands
+set -x
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 PREFIX"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Adding -Werror to make's CFLAGS is a workaround for configuring with
+# an old version of configure, which issues compiler warnings and
+# errors out. This may be removed with upgraded configure.in file.
+makecmd="make"
+if [[ "$#" -eq 2 ]]; then
+    makecmd="make CFLAGS='$CFLAGS $2' CXXFLAGS='$CXXFLAGS $2'"
+fi
+
+# non-existent variables as an errors
+set -u
+
+export INSTALL_PREFIX=$1
+
+./configure \
+    --enable-largefile \
+    --prefix="$INSTALL_PREFIX/" \
+    --without-blas \
+    --without-lapack \
+    --with-bzlib \
+    --with-cxx \
+    --with-fftw \
+    --with-freetype \
+    --with-freetype-includes="/usr/include/freetype2/" \
+    --with-geos \
+    --with-netcdf \
+    --with-pdal \
+    --with-proj-share=/usr/share/proj \
+    --with-readline \
+    --with-sqlite \
+    --with-tiff \
+    --with-zstd \
+    --without-openmp \
+    --without-pthread
+
+eval $makecmd
+make install
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cmake.yml b/.github/workflows/cmake.yml
index a8f9fa0bf2e..8d54d24c9ef 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cmake.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cmake.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ permissions:
 
 jobs:
   build-cmake:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       CMAKE_VERSION: "3.22.0"
     steps:
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ jobs:
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils ninja-build libpq-dev \
             gettext unixodbc-dev libnetcdf-dev
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
       - name: Print build environment variables
diff --git a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml
index a0edc4e8f60..a3430e81b31 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ permissions: {}
 jobs:
   analyze:
     name: Analyze
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     permissions:
       security-events: write
       actions: read
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
       - uses: rui314/setup-mold@725a8794d15fc7563f59595bd9556495c0564878 # v1
@@ -79,9 +81,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build
         if: ${{ matrix.language == 'c-cpp' }}
         env:
-          CFLAGS: -std=gnu11
-          CXXFLAGS: -std=c++11
-        run: .github/workflows/build_ubuntu-22.04.sh "${HOME}/install"
+          CFLAGS: -std=gnu17
+          CXXFLAGS: -std=c++17
+        run: .github/workflows/build_ubuntu-24.04.sh "${HOME}/install"
 
       - name: Perform CodeQL Analysis
         uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@f443b600d91635bebf5b0d9ebc620189c0d6fba5 # v4.30.8
diff --git a/.github/workflows/coverity.yml b/.github/workflows/coverity.yml
index 81a8d32403b..b94e6389dd4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/coverity.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/coverity.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ permissions:
   # https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ/blob/905c9a6c2da3dc6b7aa2c89d3ab78d9d1a9cd070/.github/workflows/coverity-scan.yml
 jobs:
   coverity:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     if: github.repository == 'OSGeo/grass'
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/documentation.yml b/.github/workflows/documentation.yml
index bb4d0111b8b..f9bce6399c4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/documentation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/documentation.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.head_ref || github.sha }}
       cancel-in-progress: true
 
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       PYTHONWARNINGS: always
       # renovate: datasource=python-version depName=python
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ jobs:
             graphviz \
             libpq-dev \
             unixodbc-dev
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' "grass/.github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gcc.yml b/.github/workflows/gcc.yml
index 78116f60264..b99fdd86e3c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gcc.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gcc.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
         matrix.c }}-${{ matrix.cpp }}
       cancel-in-progress: true
 
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
         include:
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
       - name: Create installation directory
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pytest.yml b/.github/workflows/pytest.yml
index 65cd9bf8919..49a7661603d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pytest.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pytest.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os:
-          - ubuntu-22.04
+          - ubuntu-24.04
         python-version:
           - "3.10"
           - "3.13"
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
 
@@ -57,9 +59,10 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Python dependencies
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          pip install -r .github/workflows/python_requirements.txt
-          pip install -r .github/workflows/optional_requirements.txt
-          pip install pytest pytest-timeout pytest-github-actions-annotate-failures pytest-xdist pytest-cov
+          pip install --break-system-packages -r .github/workflows/python_requirements.txt
+          pip install --break-system-packages -r .github/workflows/optional_requirements.txt
+          pip install --break-system-packages pytest pytest-timeout \
+              pytest-github-actions-annotate-failures pytest-xdist pytest-cov
 
       - name: Create installation directory
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml b/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml
index dd9b613d6bd..34324e6d22f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         include:
-          - os: ubuntu-22.04
+          - os: ubuntu-24.04
 
     env:
       # renovate: datasource=python-version depName=python
@@ -65,10 +65,10 @@ jobs:
           python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
           cache: pip # zizmor: ignore[cache-poisoning] Not creating release artifacts, less of a concern here
       - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        run: python -m pip install --break-system-packages --upgrade pip
 
       - name: Install Ruff
-        run: pip install "ruff==${RUFF_VERSION}"
+        run: pip install --break-system-packages "ruff==${RUFF_VERSION}"
       - name: Run Ruff (output annotations on fixable errors)
         run: ruff check --output-format=github . --preview --unsafe-fixes
         continue-on-error: true
@@ -97,14 +97,16 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
           sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests
 
       - name: Install Python dependencies
         run: |
-          pip install -r .github/workflows/python_requirements.txt
-          pip install -r .github/workflows/optional_requirements.txt
-          pip install --user pipx
+          pip install --break-system-packages -r .github/workflows/python_requirements.txt
+          pip install --break-system-packages -r .github/workflows/optional_requirements.txt
+          pip install --break-system-packages --user pipx
           pipx ensurepath
           pipx install "flake8==${FLAKE8_VERSION}"
           pipx install "pylint==${PYLINT_VERSION}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ubuntu.yml b/.github/workflows/ubuntu.yml
index bf9db6958b3..9b8d86e71a6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ubuntu.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ubuntu.yml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         name:
-          - "22.04"
+          - "24.04"
           - minimum config
 
         # Only run tests for these folders in this matrix job.
@@ -50,15 +50,15 @@ jobs:
             testsuite utils vector visualization
 
         include:
-          - name: "22.04"
-            os: ubuntu-22.04
-            config: ubuntu-22.04
+          - name: "24.04"
+            os: ubuntu-24.04
+            config: ubuntu-24.04
           # This is without optional things but it still keeps things useful,
           # so, e.g., without OpenMP, but with PDAL. Code or tests should be written
           # so that test pass even when these optional things are not present.
           - name: minimum config
-            os: ubuntu-22.04
-            config: ubuntu-22.04_without_x
+            os: ubuntu-24.04
+            config: ubuntu-24.04_without_x
       fail-fast: false
 
     steps:
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
           sudo apt-get install -y wget git gawk findutils
+          LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
+          sudo apt-get update -y
           xargs -a <(awk '! /^ *(#|$)/' ".github/workflows/apt.txt") -r -- \
               sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests