diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index a92a821f..81ea2976 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ env:
   ZSTD_CLEVEL: 9
   # 2025-03-05
   ZIG_DIST_VERSION: 0.14.0
-  # 2025-04-08
-  #ZIG_DIST_VERSION: 0.15.0-dev.263+d8153fa74
+  # 2025-04-10
+  #ZIG_DIST_VERSION: 0.15.0-dev.286+ddcf6fcdf
 
 jobs:
   job-rebuild-and-verify-stubs:
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ jobs:
           - { zig_target: mipsel-linux-musleabi, zig_flags: -msoft-float, qemu: qemu-mipsel }
           - { zig_target: mipsel-linux-musleabihf, qemu: qemu-mipsel }
           - { zig_target: powerpc-linux-musleabihf, qemu: qemu-ppc }
-          # { zig_target: powerpc64-linux-musl, qemu: qemu-ppc64 }
+          - { zig_target: powerpc64-linux-musl, qemu: qemu-ppc64 }
           - { zig_target: powerpc64le-linux-musl, qemu: qemu-ppc64le }
           - { zig_target: x86_64-linux-gnu.2.3.4, qemu: qemu-x86_64 } # can use QEMU because of gcompat
           - { zig_target: x86_64-linux-gnu.2.17, qemu: qemu-x86_64 } # can use QEMU because of gcompat
@@ -509,7 +509,9 @@ jobs:
           - { zig_target: x86_64-windows-gnu }
     name: ${{ format('zigcc {0} {1}', matrix.zig_target, matrix.zig_pic) }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: 'alpine:3.21'
+    #container: 'alpine:3.21'
+    #container: ${{ contains(matrix.qemu, 'qemu-ppc64') && 'alpine:3.19' || 'alpine:3.21' }} # QEMU bug
+    container: ${{ (matrix.qemu == 'qemu-ppc64') && 'alpine:edge' || 'alpine:3.21' }} # QEMU bug
     env:
       UPX_CONFIG_HAVE_WORKING_BUILD_RPATH: ''
       # for zig-cc wrapper scripts (see below):
@@ -522,7 +524,7 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ job.container }}
         shell: sh
         run: |
-          apk update && apk upgrade && apk add bash cmake curl file git make parallel tar util-linux xz zstd
+          apk update && apk upgrade && apk add bash cmake curl file git make parallel patch tar util-linux xz zstd
           # set PATH like in Ubuntu
           echo "PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           git config --global --add safe.directory '*' # needed when running in a container
@@ -554,6 +556,9 @@ jobs:
           ln -s -v ${ZIG_DIST_NAME}/zig zig
           #echo "PATH=$PATH" && which zig
           echo -n 'zig version: '; zig version
+          # patch zig
+          echo "HOME=$HOME"; ls -la "$HOME" /__w /__w/upx || true
+          #(cd ${ZIG_DIST_NAME} && patch -p1 -i /__w/upx/upx/misc/patches/zig/0001-x.patch)
           # create wrapper scripts (needed for CMake)
           log=
           log='set -x\n'
diff --git a/misc/patches/zig/0001-x.patch b/misc/patches/zig/0001-x.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..56f7da8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/patches/zig/0001-x.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+From 741b9d2f24b5796fc499a411f632820ab4f889e5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: "Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer" <markus@oberhumer.com>
+Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2025 20:00:24 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] x
+
+---
+ lib/libcxx/include/__config | 4 +++-
+ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/lib/libcxx/include/__config b/lib/libcxx/include/__config
+index fec323f..a16d145 100644
+--- a/lib/libcxx/include/__config
++++ b/lib/libcxx/include/__config
+@@ -637,9 +637,11 @@ typedef __char32_t char32_t;
+ #    define _DECLARE_C99_LDBL_MATH 1
+ #  endif
+ 
++#  if defined(_LIBCPP_HAS_NO_LIBRARY_ALIGNED_ALLOCATION)
++#    define _LIBCPP_HAS_LIBRARY_ALIGNED_ALLOCATION 0
+ // If we are getting operator new from the MSVC CRT, then allocation overloads
+ // for align_val_t were added in 19.12, aka VS 2017 version 15.3.
+-#  if defined(_LIBCPP_MSVCRT) && defined(_MSC_VER) && _MSC_VER < 1912
++#  elif defined(_LIBCPP_MSVCRT) && defined(_MSC_VER) && _MSC_VER < 1912
+ #    define _LIBCPP_HAS_LIBRARY_ALIGNED_ALLOCATION 0
+ #  elif defined(_LIBCPP_ABI_VCRUNTIME) && !defined(__cpp_aligned_new)
+ // We're deferring to Microsoft's STL to provide aligned new et al. We don't
+-- 
+2.49.0
+
diff --git a/misc/scripts/check_whitespace.sh b/misc/scripts/check_whitespace.sh
index 83b71fb5..dbc20bc2 100755
--- a/misc/scripts/check_whitespace.sh
+++ b/misc/scripts/check_whitespace.sh
@@ -25,13 +25,12 @@ LC_ALL=C sort -z | xargs -0r perl -n -e '
     if (m,[\x00\x01\x02\x7f\xfe\xff],) { print "ERROR: binary file detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1); }
     if (m,[\r\x1a],) { print "ERROR: DOS EOL detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1); }
     if (m,([ \t]+)$,) {
-        # allow exactly two trailing spaces for GitHub flavoured Markdown in .md files
-        if ($1 ne "  " || $ARGV !~ m,\.md$,) {
-            print "ERROR: trailing whitespace detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1);
-        }
+        if ($ARGV =~ m,\.patch$,) { }
+        else { print "ERROR: trailing whitespace detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1); }
     }
     if (m,\t,) {
-        if ($ARGV =~ m,(^|/)(gnu|m)?make(file|vars),i) { }
+        if ($ARGV =~ m,\.patch$,) { }
+        elsif ($ARGV =~ m,(^|/)(gnu|m)?make(file|vars),i) { }
         elsif ($ARGV =~ m,\.mk$,) { }
         elsif ($ARGV =~ m,/tmp/.*\.(disasm|dump)$,) { }
         elsif ($ARGV =~ m,/src/stub/src/arch/.*/lzma\w+\.S$,) { }
diff --git a/misc/scripts/check_whitespace_git.sh b/misc/scripts/check_whitespace_git.sh
index 8401f2ab..5dd54b05 100755
--- a/misc/scripts/check_whitespace_git.sh
+++ b/misc/scripts/check_whitespace_git.sh
@@ -19,13 +19,12 @@ git ls-files --full-name -z | perl -0 -n -e '
     if (m,[\x00\x01\x02\x7f\xfe\xff],) { print "ERROR: binary file detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1); }
     if (m,[\r\x1a],) { print "ERROR: DOS EOL detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1); }
     if (m,([ \t]+)$,) {
-        # allow exactly two trailing spaces for GitHub flavoured Markdown in .md files
-        if ($1 ne "  " || $ARGV !~ m,\.md$,) {
-            print "ERROR: trailing whitespace detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1);
-        }
+        if ($ARGV =~ m,\.patch$,) { }
+        else { print "ERROR: trailing whitespace detected $ARGV: $_"; exit(1); }
     }
     if (m,\t,) {
-        if ($ARGV =~ m,(^|/)(gnu|m)?make(file|vars),i) { }
+        if ($ARGV =~ m,\.patch$,) { }
+        elsif ($ARGV =~ m,(^|/)(gnu|m)?make(file|vars),i) { }
         elsif ($ARGV =~ m,\.mk$,) { }
         elsif ($ARGV =~ m,/tmp/.*\.(disasm|dump)$,) { }
         elsif ($ARGV =~ m,/src/stub/src/arch/.*/lzma\w+\.S$,) { }
diff --git a/src/options.cpp b/src/options.cpp
index fdc36e86..c44c7abd 100644
--- a/src/options.cpp
+++ b/src/options.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 static Options global_options;
 // also see class PackMaster for per-file local options
-upx_thread_local Options *opt = &global_options;
+Options *opt = &global_options;
 
 #if WITH_THREADS
 std::mutex opt_lock_mutex; // for locking "opt"
diff --git a/src/options.h b/src/options.h
index 0dbc8ebd..8317aa74 100644
--- a/src/options.h
+++ b/src/options.h
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ struct Options;
 #define options_t Options // old name
 
 // global options, see class PackMaster for per-file local options
-extern upx_thread_local Options *opt;
+extern Options *opt;
 
 #if WITH_THREADS
 extern std::mutex opt_lock_mutex; // for locking "opt"