diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 854ebaf..e2aaf6a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: [3.8]
-        os: [ubuntu-20.04]
+        python-version: [3.10]
+        os: [ubuntu-latest]
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v1
     - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
     - name: Upgrade pip
-      run: pip install -U pip setuptools wheel
+      run: pip install -U "pip<=24.1" setuptools wheel
     - name: Install lightfm
       run: python -m pip install --no-use-pep517 'lightfm<2'
     - name: Install package
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 51974f0..6599e69 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -62,6 +62,15 @@
     'Jinja2>=2,<3', # >=3 makes sphinx theme fail
     'markupsafe<2.1.0',
 
+    # fails on Sphinx < v3.4
+    'alabaster<=0.7.12',
+    # fails on Sphins < v5.0
+    'sphinxcontrib-applehelp<1.0.8',
+    'sphinxcontrib-devhelp<1.0.6',
+    'sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp<2.0.5',
+    'sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml<1.1.10',
+    'sphinxcontrib-qthelp<1.0.7',
+
     # style check
     'flake8>=3.7.7,<4',
     'isort>=4.3.4,<5',