diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 3bdb8f0..7c5b7e8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -28,28 +28,28 @@ jobs:
           extensions: intl, xsl
 
       - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Get composer cache directory
         id: composer-cache
         run: echo "dir=$(composer config cache-files-dir)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
       - name: Cache composer dependencies
-        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: ${{ steps.composer-cache.outputs.dir }}
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-composer-${{ hashFiles('**/composer.lock') }}
           restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-composer-
 
       - name: Cache php-cs-fixer data
-        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: .php_cs_cache
           key: "php-${{ matrix.php-version }}-php-cs-fixer-${{ github.sha }}"
           restore-keys: "php-${{ matrix.php-version }}-php-cs-fixer-"
 
       - name: Cache phpstan data
-        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: .phpstan_cache
           key: "php-${{ matrix.php-version }}-phpstan-${{ github.sha }}"
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index ba88444..74e498d 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project name="vufindcode" basedir="." default="main">
+  <property name="sh" value="/bin/sh" />
   <property name="tmp" value="/tmp" />
   <property name="package"  value="${phing.project.name}" override="true" />
   <property name="builddir" value="${tmp}/build/${phing.project.name}" override="true" />
@@ -41,39 +42,57 @@
 
   <!-- Report rule violations with PHPMD (mess detector) -->
   <target name="phpmd">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpmd ${srcdir}/src xml ${srcdir}/tests/phpmd.xml --exclude ${srcdir}/tests --reportfile ${builddir}/reports/phpmd.xml" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpmd">
+      <arg line="${srcdir}/src xml ${srcdir}/tests/phpmd.xml --exclude ${srcdir}/tests --reportfile ${builddir}/reports/phpmd.xml" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
 
   <!-- PHP_Depend code analysis -->
   <target name="pdepend">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/pdepend --jdepend-xml=${builddir}/reports/jdepend.xml --jdepend-chart=${builddir}/reports/dependencies.svg --overview-pyramid=${builddir}/reports/pdepend-pyramid.svg ${srcdir}/src" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/pdepend"> 
+      <arg line="--jdepend-xml=${builddir}/reports/jdepend.xml --jdepend-chart=${builddir}/reports/dependencies.svg --overview-pyramid=${builddir}/reports/pdepend-pyramid.svg ${srcdir}/src" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
 
   <!-- PHP CodeSniffer -->
   <target name="phpcbf">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcbf --standard=${srcdir}/tests/phpcs.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcbf" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"> 
+      <arg line="--standard=${srcdir}/tests/phpcs.xml" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
   <target name="phpcs">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=${srcdir}/tests/phpcs.xml --report=checkstyle &gt; ${builddir}/reports/checkstyle.xml" escape="false" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs" escape="false">
+      <arg line="--standard=${srcdir}/tests/phpcs.xml --report=checkstyle &gt; ${builddir}/reports/checkstyle.xml" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
   <target name="phpcs-console">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=${srcdir}/tests/phpcs.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"> 
+      <arg line="--standard=${srcdir}/tests/phpcs.xml" />
+    </exec>  
   </target>
 
   <!-- Phpstan -->
   <target name="phpstan-checkstyle">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpstan --configuration=${srcdir}/tests/phpstan.neon --memory-limit=2G --error-format=checkstyle analyse &gt; ${builddir}/reports/phpstan-checkstyle.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpstan" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"> 
+      <arg line="--configuration=${srcdir}/tests/phpstan.neon --memory-limit=2G --error-format=checkstyle analyse &gt; ${builddir}/reports/phpstan-checkstyle.xml" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
   <target name="phpstan-console">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpstan --configuration=${srcdir}/tests/phpstan.neon --memory-limit=2G analyse" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpstan" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"> 
+      <arg line="--configuration=${srcdir}/tests/phpstan.neon --memory-limit=2G analyse" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
 
   <!-- php-cs-fixer (first task applies fixes, second task simply checks if they are needed) -->
   <target name="php-cs-fixer">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --config=${srcdir}/tests/vufind.php-cs-fixer.php --verbose" passthru="true" escape="false" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer" passthru="true" escape="false">
+      <arg line="fix --config=${srcdir}/tests/vufind.php-cs-fixer.php --verbose" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
   <target name="php-cs-fixer-dryrun">
-    <exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --config=${srcdir}/tests/vufind.php-cs-fixer.php --dry-run --verbose --diff" passthru="true" escape="false" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec executable="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer" passthru="true" escape="false" checkreturn="true">
+      <arg line="fix --config=${srcdir}/tests/vufind.php-cs-fixer.php --dry-run --verbose --diff" />
+    </exec>  
   </target>
 
   <!-- PHP API Documentation -->
@@ -106,30 +125,40 @@
           </fileset>
         </phpdoc2>
         -->
-        <exec command="php ${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpDocumentor-${phpdoc_version}.phar --cache-folder=${builddir}/docs_cache --title=&quot;VuFindCode API Documentation&quot; -t ${builddir}/apidocs -d ${srcdir}/src" passthru="true" />
+        <exec executable="php" passthru="true">
+          <arg line="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpDocumentor-${phpdoc_version}.phar --cache-folder=${builddir}/docs_cache --title=&quot;VuFindCode API Documentation&quot; -t ${builddir}/apidocs -d ${srcdir}/src" />
+        </exec>
       </then>
     </if>
   </target>
 
   <!-- PHPUnit -->
   <target name="phpunit" description="Run tests">
-    <exec dir="${srcdir}/tests" command="${phpunit_command} -dzend.enable_gc=0 --log-junit ${builddir}/reports/phpunit.xml --coverage-clover ${builddir}/reports/coverage/clover.xml --coverage-html ${builddir}/reports/coverage/" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec dir="${srcdir}/tests" executable="${sh}" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"> 
+      <arg line="-c &apos;${phpunit_command} -dzend.enable_gc=0 --log-junit ${builddir}/reports/phpunit.xml --coverage-clover ${builddir}/reports/coverage/clover.xml --coverage-html ${builddir}/reports/coverage/&apos;"  />
+    </exec>
   </target>
 
   <!-- PHPUnit without logging output -->
   <target name="phpunitfast" description="Run tests">
-    <exec dir="${srcdir}/tests" command="${phpunit_command} -dzend.enable_gc=0" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+    <exec dir="${srcdir}/tests" executable="${sh}" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"> 
+      <arg line="-c &apos;${phpunit_command} -dzend.enable_gc=0&apos;"  />
+    </exec>  
   </target>
 
   <!-- Set up dependencies -->
   <target name="startup" description="set up dependencies">
-    <exec command="composer install" />
+    <exec executable="composer"> 
+      <arg line="install" />
+    </exec>  
   </target>
 
   <!-- Clean up -->
   <target name="shutdown" description="clean up file system">
     <delete dir="${srcdir}/vendor" includeemptydirs="true" failonerror="true" />
     <delete file="${srcdir}/composer.lock" failonerror="true" />
-    <exec command="git reset --hard" />
+    <exec executable="git">
+      <arg line="reset --hard" />
+    </exec>
   </target>
 </project>
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 516e19e..2313166 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -27,11 +27,12 @@
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer": "3.64.0",
+        "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.8.1",
         "pear/http_request2": "2.6.0",
         "phpmd/phpmd": "2.15.0",
         "phpstan/phpstan": "1.12.7",
         "phpunit/phpunit": "10.5.36",
-        "phing/phing": "2.17.4",
+        "phing/phing": "3.0",
         "squizlabs/php_codesniffer": "3.10.3"
     }
 }