diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/config.json b/stacks/pinot-noir/config.json
index 21e434cb1d77717202c0cb51c7116200936a0e57..e967be679a3152c59059927ecab727282477be8f 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/config.json
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/config.json
@@ -103,11 +103,9 @@
             "lz4",
             "m4",
             "macro-utils",
-            "meson",
             "mpc",
             "mpfr",
             "ncurses",
-            "ninja",
             "openssl",
             "pcre",
             "pcre2",
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
index 1ca6f9558589671024a54c1ed725a495ad99ca9f..d45321c820bee264b037f4aeafaf39da56255094 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/packages_stack.yaml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ packages:
       when: '%oneapi'
 
   curl:
-    require: ['tls=openssl']
+    require: ['tls=openssl', '+nghttp2', '+libidn2']
 
   emacs:
     prefer: ['+tls', '+X', 'toolkit=athena']
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ packages:
     - spec: 'fabrics=mlx,mrail,psm3,verbs,udp,tcp,sockets,shm'
 
   libffi:
-    prefer: ['@3.4.6']
+    require: ['@3.4.6']
 
   libxcb:
     require: ['+use_spack_interpreter']
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ packages:
 
   python:
     require:
-    - spec: '+ssl +tkinter +crypt +bz2 +pyexpat +libxml2 +ctypes +uuid'
+    - spec: '+ssl +tkinter +crypt +bz2 +pyexpat +libxml2 +ctypes +uuid ~sqlite3'
     - spec: '+optimizations'
       when: '%gcc'
     prefer:
diff --git a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
index bea18fcb281fcb761b1deceac86a87421c219cd2..d1f8d409d6c647c2c1ebee7e202491db2761bfd2 100644
--- a/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
+++ b/stacks/pinot-noir/spack.yaml
@@ -201,11 +201,9 @@ spack:
 
     - gcc_python_codes:
         - blast-plus
-        - caffe +python
         - cistem  ^fftw~~mpi
         - ctffind ^fftw ~~mpi
         - gatk
-        - gdb +tui +source-highlight +xz
         - hisat2
         - imagemagick +ghostscript
         - julia+openlibm
@@ -213,12 +211,14 @@ spack:
         - mesa
         - mummer
         - node-js
-        - openbabel ++python ^boost ~~mpi
         - rust
         - spades
         - xgboost
 
     - gcc_python_blas_codes:
+        - caffe +python
+        - gdb +tui +source-highlight +xz
+        - openbabel ++python ^boost ~~mpi
         - polymake ^cddlib@0.94h
         - py-cryolobm
         - py-deeptools