diff --git a/docs/devel/testing.rst b/docs/devel/testing.rst
index 11c651ca08..362a26698b 100644
--- a/docs/devel/testing.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/testing.rst
@@ -479,6 +479,12 @@ first to contribute the mapping to the ``libvirt-ci`` project:
    contains the ``mappings.yml`` update.  Then add the prerequisite and
    run ``make lcitool-refresh``.
 
+For enterprise distros that default to old, end-of-life versions of the
+Python runtime, QEMU uses a separate set of mappings that work with more
+recent versions.  These can be found in ``tests/lcitool/mappings.yml``.
+Modifying this file should not be necessary unless the new pre-requisite
+is a Python library or tool.
+
 
 Adding new OS distros
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
index fbc953c6dc..3c74be09a6 100644
--- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
+++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@ RUN dnf distro-sync -y && \
         lzo-devel \
         make \
         mesa-libgbm-devel \
-        meson \
         ncurses-devel \
         nettle-devel \
         ninja-build \
@@ -94,13 +93,12 @@ RUN dnf distro-sync -y && \
         pixman-devel \
         pkgconfig \
         pulseaudio-libs-devel \
-        python3 \
-        python3-PyYAML \
-        python3-numpy \
-        python3-pillow \
-        python3-pip \
-        python3-sphinx \
-        python3-sphinx_rtd_theme \
+        python38 \
+        python38-PyYAML \
+        python38-numpy \
+        python38-pip \
+        python38-setuptools \
+        python38-wheel \
         rdma-core-devel \
         rpm \
         sed \
@@ -128,8 +126,14 @@ RUN dnf distro-sync -y && \
     ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers/g++ && \
     ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers/gcc
 
+RUN /usr/bin/pip3.8 install \
+                    meson==0.63.2 \
+                    pillow \
+                    sphinx \
+                    sphinx-rtd-theme
+
 ENV CCACHE_WRAPPERSDIR "/usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers"
 ENV LANG "en_US.UTF-8"
 ENV MAKE "/usr/bin/make"
 ENV NINJA "/usr/bin/ninja"
-ENV PYTHON "/usr/bin/python3"
+ENV PYTHON "/usr/bin/python3.8"
diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/opensuse-leap.docker b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/opensuse-leap.docker
index 4b2c02d6ab..5b8dbf2b83 100644
--- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/opensuse-leap.docker
+++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/opensuse-leap.docker
@@ -89,16 +89,9 @@ RUN zypper update -y && \
            pam-devel \
            pcre-devel-static \
            pkgconfig \
-           python3-Pillow \
-           python3-PyYAML \
-           python3-Sphinx \
-           python3-base \
-           python3-numpy \
-           python3-opencv \
-           python3-pip \
-           python3-setuptools \
-           python3-sphinx_rtd_theme \
-           python3-wheel \
+           python39-base \
+           python39-pip \
+           python39-setuptools \
            rdma-core-devel \
            rpm \
            sed \
@@ -129,10 +122,15 @@ RUN zypper update -y && \
     ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers/g++ && \
     ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers/gcc
 
-RUN /usr/bin/pip3 install meson==0.56.0
+RUN /usr/bin/pip3.9 install \
+                    PyYAML \
+                    meson==0.63.2 \
+                    pillow \
+                    sphinx \
+                    sphinx-rtd-theme
 
 ENV CCACHE_WRAPPERSDIR "/usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers"
 ENV LANG "en_US.UTF-8"
 ENV MAKE "/usr/bin/make"
 ENV NINJA "/usr/bin/ninja"
-ENV PYTHON "/usr/bin/python3"
+ENV PYTHON "/usr/bin/python3.9"
diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
index 13ab0b6887..5b27b89f1c 100644
--- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
+++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ RUN export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive && \
     ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers/g++ && \
     ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers/gcc
 
-RUN /usr/bin/pip3 install meson==0.56.0
+RUN /usr/bin/pip3 install meson==0.63.2
 
 ENV CCACHE_WRAPPERSDIR "/usr/libexec/ccache-wrappers"
 ENV LANG "en_US.UTF-8"
diff --git a/tests/lcitool/mappings.yml b/tests/lcitool/mappings.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e4719e4551
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/lcitool/mappings.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+mappings:
+  flake8:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  meson:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3:
+    CentOSStream8: python38
+    OpenSUSELeap153: python39-base
+
+  python3-PyYAML:
+    CentOSStream8: python38-PyYAML
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-devel:
+    CentOSStream8: python38-devel
+    OpenSUSELeap153: python39-devel
+
+  python3-docutils:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-numpy:
+    CentOSStream8: python38-numpy
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-opencv:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-pillow:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-pip:
+    CentOSStream8: python38-pip
+    OpenSUSELeap153: python39-pip
+
+  python3-pillow:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-selinux:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-setuptools:
+    CentOSStream8: python38-setuptools
+    OpenSUSELeap153: python39-setuptools
+
+  python3-sphinx:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-sphinx-rtd-theme:
+    CentOSStream8:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
+
+  python3-venv:
+    CentOSStream8: python38
+    OpenSUSELeap153: python39-base
+
+  python3-wheel:
+    CentOSStream8: python38-wheel
+    OpenSUSELeap153: python39-pip
+
+pypi_mappings:
+  # Request more recent version
+  meson:
+    default: meson==0.63.2
+
+  # Drop packages that need devel headers
+  python3-numpy:
+    OpenSUSELeap153:
diff --git a/tests/lcitool/targets/centos-stream-8.yml b/tests/lcitool/targets/centos-stream-8.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b11160fd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/lcitool/targets/centos-stream-8.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+paths:
+  pip3: /usr/bin/pip3.8
+  python: /usr/bin/python3.8
diff --git a/tests/lcitool/targets/opensuse-leap-153.yml b/tests/lcitool/targets/opensuse-leap-153.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..683016e007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/lcitool/targets/opensuse-leap-153.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+paths:
+  pip3: /usr/bin/pip3.9
+  python: /usr/bin/python3.9