diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-sdist-wheels.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-sdist-wheels.yml
index e0cd8010..4785ce63 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-sdist-wheels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-sdist-wheels.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ on: [pull_request, push]
 env:
   CIBW_BUILD_VERBOSITY: 3
   CIBW_BUILD: 'cp*'
-  CIBW_SKIP: 'cp35-* cp36-* *-musllinux_* *-manylinux_i686'
+  CIBW_SKIP: 'cp35-* cp36-* cp37-* *-musllinux_* *-manylinux_i686'
   CIBW_TEST_COMMAND: ( cd {project}/python/tests; python -m unittest -v )
 
 jobs:
@@ -34,46 +34,10 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build wheels on Linux
         if: runner.os == 'Linux'
-        env:
-          CIBW_MANYLINUX_X86_64_IMAGE: manylinux2014
-          CIBW_BEFORE_ALL: |
-            AEC_VERSION="1.0.4"
-            HDF5_VERSION="1.12.1"
-
-            yum update -y
-            yum -y install zlib-devel
-            pushd /tmp
-
-            echo "Downloading & unpacking aec ${AEC_VERSION}"
-            curl -fsSLO https://gitlab.dkrz.de/k202009/libaec/uploads/ea0b7d197a950b0c110da8dfdecbb71f/libaec-${AEC_VERSION}.tar.gz
-            tar zxf libaec-$AEC_VERSION.tar.gz
-
-            echo "Building & installing libaec"
-            pushd libaec-$AEC_VERSION
-            ./configure
-            make -j 2
-            make install
-            ldconfig
-            popd
-
-            echo "Downloading & unpacking HDF5 ${HDF5_VERSION}"
-            curl -fsSLO "https://www.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-${HDF5_VERSION%.*}/hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION/src/hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION.tar.gz"
-            tar -xzvf hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION.tar.gz
-
-            echo "Building & installing HDF5"
-            pushd hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION
-            ./configure                      \
-              --prefix=/usr                  \
-              --enable-build-mode=production \
-              --with-szlib                   \
-              --enable-tools=no              \
-              --enable-tests=no
-            make -j 2
-            make install
-            ldconfig
-            popd
         run: |
-          python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir dist
+          # note: config is stored in pyproject.toml now
+          CIBW_MANYLINUX_X86_64_IMAGE=manylinux2014 python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir dist
+          CIBW_MANYLINUX_X86_64_IMAGE=manylinux_2_28 python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir dist
 
       - name: Build wheels Mac OS
         if: runner.os == 'macOS'
diff --git a/ci/ci-buildwheel-prepare-linux.sh b/ci/ci-buildwheel-prepare-linux.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3867d0d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/ci-buildwheel-prepare-linux.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+AEC_VERSION="1.0.4"
+HDF5_VERSION="1.12.1"
+
+yum update -y
+yum -y install zlib-devel
+pushd /tmp
+
+echo "Downloading & unpacking aec ${AEC_VERSION}"
+curl -fsSLO https://gitlab.dkrz.de/k202009/libaec/uploads/ea0b7d197a950b0c110da8dfdecbb71f/libaec-${AEC_VERSION}.tar.gz
+tar zxf libaec-$AEC_VERSION.tar.gz
+
+echo "Building & installing libaec"
+pushd libaec-$AEC_VERSION
+./configure
+make -j 2
+make install
+ldconfig
+popd
+
+echo "Downloading & unpacking HDF5 ${HDF5_VERSION}"
+curl -fsSLO "https://www.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-${HDF5_VERSION%.*}/hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION/src/hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION.tar.gz"
+tar -xzvf hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION.tar.gz
+
+echo "Building & installing HDF5"
+pushd hdf5-$HDF5_VERSION
+./configure                      \
+  --prefix=/usr                  \
+  --enable-build-mode=production \
+  --with-szlib                   \
+  --enable-tools=no              \
+  --enable-tests=no
+make -j 2
+make install
+ldconfig
+popd
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 706c3962..cea9c008 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ requires = [
     "wheel",
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[tool.cibuildwheel.linux]
+before-all = "bash ci/ci-buildwheel-prepare-linux.sh"