diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-topics-test-gha-branch.yml b/.github/workflows/build-topics-test-gha-branch.yml
index 100a5e0d..20ee21eb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-topics-test-gha-branch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-topics-test-gha-branch.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
       - make-source-dist
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python_version: ['3.8', '3.12']
+        python_version: ['3.8']
     steps:
       - name: Install Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ jobs:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python_version }}
       - name: Install Python packages
         run: pip${{ matrix.python_version }} install auditwheel build Chrones pybind11 twine
+      - run: python${{ matrix.python_version }} -m pybind11 --help
+      - run: python${{ matrix.python_version }} -m pybind11 --includes
       - name: Install CUDA
         run: |
           sudo apt-key adv --fetch-keys https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu2004/x86_64/3bf863cc.pub
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ jobs:
       - build-for-linux
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python_version: ['3.8', '3.12']
+        python_version: ['3.8']
     steps:
       - name: Install Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
@@ -195,7 +197,7 @@ jobs:
       - build-for-windows
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python_version: ['3.8', '3.12']
+        python_version: ['3.8']
     env:
       MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET: 11.0
     steps:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3f2da521..92f21b1f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -225,14 +225,14 @@ def make_liblincs_extension():
             print("WARNING: 'chrones' was not found, lincs will be compiled without Chrones", file=sys.stderr)
 
     try:
-        include_dirs += [
-            option[2:]
-            for option in subprocess.run(
-                [sys.executable, "-m", "pybind11", "--includes"], capture_output=True, universal_newlines=True, check=True,
-            ).stdout.strip().split(" ")
-        ]
+        pybind1_command = [sys.executable, "-m", "pybind11", "--includes"]
+        pybind1_process = subprocess.run(pybind1_command, capture_output=True, universal_newlines=True, check=True)
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
         print("WARNING: 'pybind11' was not found, compilation will fail", file=sys.stderr)
+        print(pybind1_command, file=sys.stderr)
+        subprocess.run(pybind1_command)
+    else:
+        include_dirs += [option[2:] for option in pybind1_process.stdout.strip().split(" ")]
 
     if sys.platform == "linux":
         extra_compile_args["c++"] = ["-std=c++17", "-Werror=switch", "-fopenmp"]