diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 57107b67810f..be9bb55cfaf3 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ buildscript {
     //noinspection GroovyAssignabilityCheck
     dependencies {
         classpath 'org.ow2.asm:asm:5.1'
-        classpath 'gradle.plugin.com.github.jengelman.gradle.plugins:shadow:7.0.0'
+        classpath 'com.github.johnrengelman:shadow:8.1.1'
         classpath 'org.gradle.api.plugins:gradle-nexus-plugin:0.7.1'
         classpath 'org.testng:testng:6.8'
         classpath 'me.champeau.gradle:jmh-gradle-plugin:0.5.2'
diff --git a/gradle/copyJars.gradle b/gradle/copyJars.gradle
index 47bff3798223..3409b0073ec0 100644
--- a/gradle/copyJars.gradle
+++ b/gradle/copyJars.gradle
@@ -3,14 +3,14 @@
 tasks.withType(Jar) { Jar t ->
   t.doLast {
     copy {
-      from t.archivePath
-      into t.destinationDir
+      from t.archiveFile
+      into t.destinationDirectory
       // Here we expected standard JAR file archive name:
       //    [baseName]-[appendix]-[version]-[classifier].[extension]
-      if (t.classifier!=null) {
-          rename("(.*)-${t.version}(.*)", '$1$2')
+      if (t.archiveClassifier!=null) {
+          rename("(.*)-${t.archiveVersion.get()}(.*)", '$1$2')
       } else {
-          rename("(.*)${t.version}-?(.*)", '$1$2')
+          rename("(.*)${t.archiveVersion.get()}-?(.*)", '$1$2')
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/gradle/java.gradle b/gradle/java.gradle
index 4e35fff13277..e4b47163d0c3 100644
--- a/gradle/java.gradle
+++ b/gradle/java.gradle
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ compileJava {
 }
 
 task testJar(type: Jar, dependsOn: testClasses, group: "build") {
-    classifier = 'test'
+    archiveClassifier.set('test')
     from sourceSets.test.output
 }
 
diff --git a/gradle/javaIgnoreSymbolFile.gradle b/gradle/javaIgnoreSymbolFile.gradle
index 74c2eb45e35c..21690a8b93a8 100644
--- a/gradle/javaIgnoreSymbolFile.gradle
+++ b/gradle/javaIgnoreSymbolFile.gradle
@@ -1,6 +1,16 @@
+import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.condition.Os
+
 compileJava {
     // This only works when forking and passing 'javac' as an executable
     options.compilerArgs << '-XDignore.symbol.file'    
     options.fork = true
-    options.forkOptions.executable = 'javac'
+    if (System.env.JAVA_HOME != null) {
+        if (Os.isFamily(Os.FAMILY_WINDOWS))
+            options.forkOptions.executable = "${System.env.JAVA_HOME}/bin/javac.exe"
+        else
+            options.forkOptions.executable = "${System.env.JAVA_HOME}/bin/javac"
+    } else {
+        // JAVA_HOME is not set. Using expected javac location
+        options.forkOptions.executable = "/usr/bin/javac"
+    }
 }
diff --git a/gradle/publish.gradle b/gradle/publish.gradle
index 039ca026c8f5..bdcd66ddd07e 100644
--- a/gradle/publish.gradle
+++ b/gradle/publish.gradle
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ apply plugin: 'signing'
 
 // Default task to bundle sources code as jar
 task sourcesJar(type: Jar) {
-    classifier = 'sources'
+    archiveClassifier.set('sources')
     from sourceSets.main.allSource
 }
 
diff --git a/gradle/ubench.gradle b/gradle/ubench.gradle
index 2bfee1e1e848..32b5903cc843 100644
--- a/gradle/ubench.gradle
+++ b/gradle/ubench.gradle
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ task jmhPostProcess(dependsOn: "jmh") {
 }
 
 task jmhFatJar(type: ShadowJar) {
-    classifier = "jmh"
+    archiveClassifier.set('jmh')
     manifest {
         attributes "Main-Class": "org.openjdk.jmh.Main"
     }
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index ffed3a254e91..48c0a02ca419 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-7.2-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.7-bin.zip
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/h2o-assemblies/genmodel/build.gradle b/h2o-assemblies/genmodel/build.gradle
index 346e1db6073a..c34aa72c8ca5 100644
--- a/h2o-assemblies/genmodel/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-assemblies/genmodel/build.gradle
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ for (comp in optionalComponents) {
 
 shadowJar {
   mergeServiceFiles()
-  classifier = ''
+  archiveClassifier.set('')
   relocate 'com.google.gson', 'ai.h2o.com.google.gson' // Should be eventually removed: https://github.com/h2oai/h2o-3/issues/12372
   relocate 'org.apache.commons.text', 'ai.h2o.org.apache.commons.text'
   relocate 'org.apache.commons.lang3', 'ai.h2o.org.apache.commons.lang3'
diff --git a/h2o-assemblies/main/build.gradle b/h2o-assemblies/main/build.gradle
index 6231736b5867..d836c896f4ad 100644
--- a/h2o-assemblies/main/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-assemblies/main/build.gradle
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ dependencies {
 shadowJar {
   zip64 true
   mergeServiceFiles()
-  classifier = ''
+  archiveClassifier.set('')
   // CDH 5.3.0 provides joda-time v1.6 which is too old, shadow the library instead
   if (!project.hasProperty("jacocoCoverage")) {
     relocate 'org.joda.time', 'ai.h2o.org.joda.time'
diff --git a/h2o-assemblies/minimal/build.gradle b/h2o-assemblies/minimal/build.gradle
index 2a0fe0b54359..13e522ffe6c6 100644
--- a/h2o-assemblies/minimal/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-assemblies/minimal/build.gradle
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ dependencies {
 
 shadowJar {
   mergeServiceFiles()
-  classifier = ''
+  archiveClassifier.set('')
   exclude 'META-INF/*.DSA'
   exclude 'META-INF/*.SF'
   exclude 'synchronize.properties'
diff --git a/h2o-assemblies/steam/build.gradle b/h2o-assemblies/steam/build.gradle
index 2f177ecd991b..a3609fdb3d13 100644
--- a/h2o-assemblies/steam/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-assemblies/steam/build.gradle
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ dependencies {
 
 shadowJar {
   mergeServiceFiles()
-  classifier = ''
+  archiveClassifier.set('')
   exclude 'META-INF/*.DSA'
   exclude 'META-INF/*.SF'
   exclude 'synchronize.properties'
diff --git a/h2o-hadoop-2/assemblyjar.gradle b/h2o-hadoop-2/assemblyjar.gradle
index 6b69dce78b85..dbd5006384e8 100644
--- a/h2o-hadoop-2/assemblyjar.gradle
+++ b/h2o-hadoop-2/assemblyjar.gradle
@@ -19,15 +19,15 @@ if (hasCustomHdfsDep) {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-  api("org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-client:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion") {
-    force = true
+  api("org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-client") {
+    version { strictly hadoopMavenArtifactVersion }
   }
-  api("org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-common:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion") {
-    force = true
+  api("org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-common") {
+    version { strictly hadoopMavenArtifactVersion }
   }
   if (hasCustomHdfsDep) {
-    api("org.apache.hadoop:${hdfsDependency}:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion") {
-      force = true
+    api("org.apache.hadoop:${hdfsDependency}") {
+      version { strictly hadoopMavenArtifactVersion }
     }
   }
   api(project(":h2o-mapreduce-generic")) {
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ dependencies {
   api project(":h2o-security")
   api project(":h2o-ext-steam")
   // Libraries need for Google Cloud Storage strongly require this Guava version
-  api('com.google.guava:guava:20.0') {force = true}
+  api('com.google.guava:guava') {
+    version { strictly '20.0' }
+  }
   api(project(':h2o-app')) {
     exclude module: "${defaultWebserverModule}"
   }
@@ -127,8 +129,8 @@ shadowJar {
   relocate 'org.apache.http', 'ai.h2o.org.apache.http'
   exclude hadoopShadowJarExcludes
   relocate 'com.google.common', 'ai.h2o.com.google.common'
-  baseName = 'h2odriver'
-  classifier = ''
+  archiveBaseName.set('h2odriver')
+  archiveClassifier.set('')
   manifest {
     attributes 'Main-Class': 'water.hadoop.h2odriver'
   }
diff --git a/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar.gradle b/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar.gradle
index 56fa74c96463..a5c66a2a919a 100644
--- a/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar.gradle
+++ b/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar.gradle
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ dependencies {
     api "org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-mapreduce-client-app:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion"
     api "org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-aws:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion"
     // Libraries need for Google Cloud Storage strongly require this Guava version
-    api('com.google.guava:guava:20.0') { force = true }
+    api('com.google.guava:guava') {
+        version { strictly '20.0' }
+    }
     api(project(':h2o-app')) {
         exclude module: "${defaultWebserverModule}"
     }
diff --git a/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_cdp.gradle b/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_cdp.gradle
index 0f5ca09780e8..2785be12c737 100644
--- a/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_cdp.gradle
+++ b/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_cdp.gradle
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ dependencies {
     compileOnly "org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-client:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion"
     compileOnly "org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-mapreduce-client-app:$hadoopMavenArtifactVersion"
     // Libraries need for Google Cloud Storage strongly require this Guava version
-    api('com.google.guava:guava:20.0') { force = true }
+    api('com.google.guava:guava') {
+        version { strictly '20.0' }
+    }
     api(project(':h2o-app')) {
         exclude module: "${defaultWebserverModule}"
         exclude module: "h2o-ext-krbstandalone" // exclude here to avoid pulling all transitive dependencies
diff --git a/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_common.gradle b/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_common.gradle
index ce5b3fc8c039..90f764655d98 100644
--- a/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_common.gradle
+++ b/h2o-hadoop-3/assemblyjar_common.gradle
@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ shadowJar {
     exclude hadoopShadowJarExcludes
     relocate 'com.google.common', 'ai.h2o.com.google.common'
     relocate 'org.eclipse.jetty', 'ai.h2o.org.eclipse.jetty'
-    baseName = 'h2odriver'
-    classifier = ''
+    archiveBaseName.set('h2odriver')
+    archiveClassifier.set('')
     manifest {
         attributes 'Main-Class': 'water.hadoop.h2odriver'
     }
diff --git a/h2o-k8s-comp/build.gradle b/h2o-k8s-comp/build.gradle
index c607ff1b3636..6101bd0bdc52 100644
--- a/h2o-k8s-comp/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-k8s-comp/build.gradle
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ dependencies {
 
 shadowJar {
     mergeServiceFiles()
-    classifier = ''
+    archiveClassifier.set('')
     exclude 'META-INF/*.DSA'
     exclude 'META-INF/*.SF'
     exclude 'synchronize.properties'
diff --git a/h2o-py-cloud-extensions/build.gradle b/h2o-py-cloud-extensions/build.gradle
index 2d4457445e08..cba2e9f8f6c7 100644
--- a/h2o-py-cloud-extensions/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-py-cloud-extensions/build.gradle
@@ -15,19 +15,7 @@ ext {
     testsPath = file("tests")
 }
 
-//
-// Create a file with version for Python dist task
-//
-task createVersionFiles() {
-    doLast {
-        file("${buildDir}/h2o_cloud_extensions/").mkdirs()
-        File version_file = new File("${buildDir}/h2o_cloud_extensions/", "version.txt")
-        version_file.write(PROJECT_VERSION)
 
-        File build_file = new File("${buildDir}/h2o_cloud_extensions/", "buildinfo.txt")
-        build_file.write(buildVersion.toString())
-    }
-}
 
 
 task copySrcFiles(type: Copy) {
@@ -41,9 +29,15 @@ task copySrcFiles(type: Copy) {
     into "${buildDir}"
 }
 
-task buildDist(type: Exec, dependsOn: [createVersionFiles, copySrcFiles]) {
+task buildDist(type: Exec, dependsOn: copySrcFiles) {
     workingDir buildDir
     doFirst {
+        file("${buildDir}/h2o_cloud_extensions/").mkdirs()
+        File version_file = new File("${buildDir}/h2o_cloud_extensions/", "version.txt")
+        version_file.write(PROJECT_VERSION)
+
+        File build_file = new File("${buildDir}/h2o_cloud_extensions/", "buildinfo.txt")
+        build_file.write(buildVersion.toString())
         file("${buildDir}/tmp").mkdirs()
         standardOutput = new FileOutputStream(file("${buildDir}/tmp/h2o-py_buildDist.out"))
     }
@@ -84,5 +78,6 @@ task cleanBuild(type: Delete) {
 //
 // Define the dependencies
 //
+jar.dependsOn copySrcFiles
 clean.dependsOn cleanBuild, cleanUpTestResults
 build.dependsOn copyMainDist
diff --git a/h2o-py-mlflow-flavor/build.gradle b/h2o-py-mlflow-flavor/build.gradle
index 1edc3ccab43e..1b9608b908f6 100644
--- a/h2o-py-mlflow-flavor/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-py-mlflow-flavor/build.gradle
@@ -59,5 +59,6 @@ task cleanBuild(type: Delete) {
 //
 // Define the dependencies
 //
+jar.dependsOn copySrcFiles
 clean.dependsOn cleanBuild
 build.dependsOn copyMainDist
diff --git a/h2o-py/build.gradle b/h2o-py/build.gradle
index 094fce0ace76..03240602edfa 100644
--- a/h2o-py/build.gradle
+++ b/h2o-py/build.gradle
@@ -99,11 +99,17 @@ task buildDist(type: Exec, dependsOn: [verifyDependencies, createVersionFiles, c
     commandLine getOsSpecificCommandLine([pythonexe, "setup.py", "bdist_wheel"])
 }
 
-task copyMainDist(type: Copy, dependsOn: [buildDist]) {
-    from ("${buildDir}/main/") {
-        include "dist/**"
+// I don't know why the task with type: Copy doesn't run after buildDist for gradle 8 even though its working for other projects (e.g. h2o-py-cloud-extension)
+// I was able to properly copy the wheel only this way.
+task copyMainDist(dependsOn: [buildDist]) {
+    doLast{
+        copy {
+            from("${buildDir}/main/") {
+                include "dist/**"
+            }
+            into "${buildDir}"
+        }
     }
-    into "${buildDir}"
 }
 
 task buildClientDist(type: Exec, dependsOn: [verifyDependencies, createVersionFiles, copyClientSrcFiles]) {