diff --git a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/basic.nix b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/basic.nix
index 9126fde0b96f..5dec3de378e3 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/basic.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/basic.nix
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@
 
         # enable mailpit
         services.mailpit.instances.default = { };
+
+        # allows running nixos test on qemu without kvm, eg. github actions on aarch64-linux
+        systemd.settings.Manager.DefaultDeviceTimeoutSec = lib.mkForce 1800;
+        boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "virtio_console" ];
       };
   };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/e2e.nix b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/e2e.nix
index d8b11c8f5513..d4dfa0a04cd7 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/e2e.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/e2e.nix
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@
             # it only cares about files in static/
           ))
         ];
+
+        # allows running nixos test on qemu without kvm, eg. github actions on aarch64-linux
+        systemd.settings.Manager.DefaultDeviceTimeoutSec = lib.mkForce 1800;
+        boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "virtio_console" ];
       };
   };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/postgres.nix b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/postgres.nix
index 96cf6426f5bf..c6a82fad839a 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/postgres.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/postgres.nix
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@
         environment.systemPackages = [
           config.services.postgresql.finalPackage
         ];
+
+        # allows running nixos test on qemu without kvm, eg. github actions on aarch64-linux
+        systemd.settings.Manager.DefaultDeviceTimeoutSec = lib.mkForce 1800;
+        boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "virtio_console" ];
       };
   };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/s3-backups.nix b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/s3-backups.nix
index 8a9539afea1b..a3955c968b0d 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/s3-backups.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/web-apps/pdfding/s3-backups.nix
@@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ in
           minio-client
           sqlite
         ];
+
+        # allows running nixos test on qemu without kvm, eg. github actions on aarch64-linux
+        systemd.settings.Manager.DefaultDeviceTimeoutSec = lib.mkForce 1800;
+        boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "virtio_console" ];
       };
   };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/frontend.nix b/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/frontend.nix
index 13df27f63e66..63ef34ace23c 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/frontend.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/frontend.nix
@@ -28,13 +28,13 @@ let
   };
 in
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
-  pname = "${pdfding.pname}-frontend";
+  pname = "pdfding-frontend";
   inherit (pdfding) src version;
 
   npmDeps = fetchNpmDeps {
     inherit (finalAttrs) src;
-    name = "${finalAttrs.pname}-${finalAttrs.version}-npm-deps";
-    hash = "sha256-HOGnzDKg1ca/27u1oQEtOkOl6Cg/7k+aLJEJhbypUhE=";
+    name = "pdfding-${finalAttrs.version}-npm-deps";
+    hash = "sha256-fxhDP/kyDfL1uiZCUNr2Cd6vDnyb9V+gTSNPyjSIm18=";
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     tailwindcss_4
   ];
 
+  strictDeps = true;
+  __structuredAttrs = true;
+
   # keeping the file structure same as upstream to minimise confusion
   buildPhase = ''
     runHook preBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/package.nix
index 494924814094..8529f23bd20e 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/pd/pdfding/package.nix
@@ -12,15 +12,18 @@ let
 in
 python.pkgs.buildPythonPackage (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "pdfding";
-  version = "1.7.2";
+  version = "1.8.0";
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "mrmn2";
     repo = "PdfDing";
     tag = "v${finalAttrs.version}";
-    hash = "sha256-a12Rq4fd3XEW6ZTsm8ISklpMu0ZKpeBrZXNh9My3vUQ=";
+    hash = "sha256-ITOsKABToGMJDdCiWH3+nTuuTW5ZuMXcQYv0QyMb19I=";
   };
   pyproject = true;
 
+  strictDeps = true;
+  __structuredAttrs = true;
+
   # remove supervisor from dependencies
   postPatch = ''
     sed -i 's/supervisor.*$//' pyproject.toml
@@ -107,9 +110,13 @@ python.pkgs.buildPythonPackage (finalAttrs: {
   env.PDFDING_OUT_DIR = "${placeholder "out"}/${python.sitePackages}/pdfding";
 
   makeWrapperArgs = [
-    "--set-default DATA_DIR /var/lib/pdfding"
+    "--set-default"
+    "DATA_DIR"
+    "/var/lib/pdfding"
     # allow for gunicorn processes to have access to Python packages
-    "--prefix PYTHONPATH : "
+    "--prefix"
+    "PYTHONPATH"
+    ":"
     "${python.pkgs.makePythonPath finalAttrs.passthru.dependencies}:${finalAttrs.env.PDFDING_OUT_DIR}"
   ];
 
@@ -117,21 +124,21 @@ python.pkgs.buildPythonPackage (finalAttrs: {
     mkdir -p $out/bin
 
     makeWrapper "$PDFDING_OUT_DIR/manage.py" $out/bin/pdfding-manage \
-      $makeWrapperArgs
+      "''${makeWrapperArgs[@]}"
 
     makeWrapper ${lib.getExe python.pkgs.gunicorn} $out/bin/pdfding-start \
       --add-flags '--bind ''${HOST_IP:-127.0.0.1}:''${HOST_PORT:-8080} core.wsgi:application' \
-      $makeWrapperArgs
+      "''${makeWrapperArgs[@]}"
   '';
 
   pythonRelaxDeps = [
-    "rapidfuzz"
-    "django"
+    "django-allauth"
     "gunicorn"
+    "huey"
     "nh3"
+    "psycopg2-binary"
     "pypdf"
     "pypdfium2"
-    "whitenoise"
   ];
 
   checkInputs = with python.pkgs; [