diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml b/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml
index 567b44745c9..58907de93b0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml
@@ -113,7 +113,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Run Pylint on other files using pytest
         run: |
-          pip install pytest pytest-pylint
+          pip install pytest pytest-pylint==0.19
+          echo "::warning file=.github/workflows/python-code-quality.yml,line=116,col=42,endColumn=48::Temporarily downgraded pytest-pylint to allow merging other PRs. The errors reported with a newer version seem legitimite and should be fixed (2023-10-18, see https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/3205)"
           export PYTHONPATH=`grass --config python_path`:$PYTHONPATH
           export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/install/grass84/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
           pytest --pylint -m pylint --pylint-rcfile=.pylintrc --pylint-jobs=$(nproc) \
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 4545e30d43e..a2e93b423cf 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,149 +1,271 @@
-FROM ubuntu:22.04
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.4
 
-LABEL authors="Carmen Tawalika,Markus Neteler,Anika Weinmann"
+# Note: This file must be kept in sync in ./Dockerfile and ./docker/ubuntu/Dockerfile.
+#       Changes to this file must be copied over to the other file.  
+
+ARG GUI=without
+
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as common_start
+
+LABEL authors="Carmen Tawalika,Markus Neteler,Anika Weinmann,Stefan Blumentrath"
 LABEL maintainer="tawalika@mundialis.de,neteler@mundialis.de,weinmann@mundialis.de"
 
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
 
-# define versions to be used (PDAL is not available on Ubuntu/Debian, so we compile it here)
-# https://github.com/PDAL/PDAL/releases
-ARG PDAL_VERSION=2.4.3
-
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-c"]
 
 WORKDIR /tmp
 
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y && \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
-    build-essential \
+ARG GUI
+
+# Todo: re-consider required dev packages for addons (~400MB in dev packages)
+ARG GRASS_RUN_PACKAGES="build-essential \
     bison \
     bzip2 \
-    cmake \
     curl \
     flex \
     g++ \
     gcc \
     gdal-bin \
+    geos-bin \
+    proj-bin \
+    netcdf-bin \
     git \
     language-pack-en-base \
-    libbz2-dev \
     libcairo2 \
-    libcairo2-dev \
     libcurl4-gnutls-dev \
     libfftw3-bin \
     libfftw3-dev \
-    libfreetype6-dev \
+    libfreetype6 \
     libgdal-dev \
-    libgeos-dev \
-    libgsl0-dev \
-    libjpeg-dev \
+    libgsl27 \
+    libjpeg-turbo8 \
     libjsoncpp-dev \
-    libnetcdf-dev \
-    libncurses5-dev \
-    libopenblas-base \
+    libmagic1 \
+    libmagic-mgc \
+    libncurses5 \
     libopenblas-dev \
+    libopenblas-base \
     libopenjp2-7 \
-    libopenjp2-7-dev \
-    libpnglite-dev \
-    libpq-dev \
+    libomp5 \
+    libomp-dev \
+    libgeos-dev \
+    libpdal-dev \
     libproj-dev \
+    libpq-dev \
+    libgsl-dev \
+    libpdal-base13 \
+    libpdal-plugin-hdf \
+    libpdal-plugins \
+    libpdal-util13 \
+    libpnglite0 \
+    libpq5 \
     libpython3-all-dev \
-    libsqlite3-dev \
-    libtiff-dev \
-    libzstd-dev \
+    libreadline8 \
+    libsqlite3-0 \
+    libtiff-tools \
+    libzstd1 \
     locales \
     make \
-    mesa-common-dev \
+    mesa-utils \
     moreutils \
     ncurses-bin \
-    netcdf-bin \
-    proj-bin \
+    pdal \
     proj-data \
     python3 \
-    python3-dateutil \
     python3-dev \
-    python3-magic \
-    python3-numpy \
-    python3-pil \
-    python3-pip \
-    python3-ply \
-    python3-setuptools \
     python3-venv \
-    software-properties-common \
     sqlite3 \
-    subversion \
     unzip \
     vim \
     wget \
     zip \
+    zlib1g \
+    "
+
+# Define build packages
+ARG GRASS_BUILD_PACKAGES="cmake \
+    libbz2-dev \
+    libcairo2-dev \
+    libfreetype6-dev \
     zlib1g-dev \
-    && apt-get clean all && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+    libnetcdf-dev \
+    libopenjp2-7-dev \
+    libreadline-dev \
+    libjpeg-dev \
+    libpnglite-dev \
+    libsqlite3-dev \
+    libtiff-dev \
+    libzstd-dev \
+    libncurses5-dev \
+    mesa-common-dev \
+    zlib1g-dev \
+    "
 
-RUN echo LANG="en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/default/locale
-RUN echo en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen
+ARG GRASS_CONFIG="--with-cxx \
+  --enable-largefile \
+  --with-proj-share=/usr/share/proj \
+  --with-gdal=/usr/bin/gdal-config \
+  --with-geos \
+  --with-sqlite \
+  --with-cairo --with-cairo-ldflags=-lfontconfig \
+  --with-freetype --with-freetype-includes=/usr/include/freetype2/ \
+  --with-fftw \
+  --with-postgres --with-postgres-includes=/usr/include/postgresql \
+  --with-netcdf \
+  --with-zstd \
+  --with-bzlib \
+  --with-pdal \
+  --without-mysql \
+  --with-blas \
+  --with-lapack \
+  --with-readline \
+  --with-odbc \
+  --with-openmp \
+  "
+
+ARG GRASS_PYTHON_PACKAGES="pip \
+    setuptools \
+    grass-session \
+    python-dateutil \
+    python-magic \
+    numpy \
+    Pillow \
+    ply \
+    matplotlib \
+    psycopg2 \
+  "
+
+
+FROM common_start as grass_without_gui
+
+ARG GRASS_CONFIG="${GRASS_CONFIG} --without-opengl"
+
+
+FROM common_start as grass_with_gui
+
+ARG GRASS_RUN_PACKAGES="${GRASS_RUN_PACKAGES} adwaita-icon-theme-full \
+  libglu1-mesa \
+  libgtk-3-0 \
+  libnotify4 \
+  libsdl2-2.0-0 \
+  libxtst6 \
+  librsvg2-common \
+  gettext \
+  freeglut3 \
+  libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0 \
+  libjpeg8 \
+  libpng16-16 \
+  libsm6 \
+  libtiff5 \
+  libwebkit2gtk-4.0 \
+"
+# librsvg2-common \
+# (fix error (wxgui.py:7782): Gtk-WARNING **: 19:53:09.774:
+# Could not load a pixbuf from /org/gtk/libgtk/theme/Adwaita/assets/check-symbolic.svg.
+# This may indicate that pixbuf loaders or the mime database could not be found.)
+
+ARG GRASS_BUILD_PACKAGES="${GRASS_BUILD_PACKAGES} adwaita-icon-theme-full \
+  libgl1-mesa-dev \
+  libglu1-mesa-dev \
+  freeglut3-dev \
+  libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev \
+  libgtk-3-dev \
+  libjpeg-dev \
+  libnotify-dev \
+  libpng-dev \
+  libsdl2-dev \
+  libsm-dev \
+  libtiff-dev \
+  libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev \
+  libxtst-dev \
+"
+
+ARG GRASS_CONFIG="${GRASS_CONFIG} --with-opengl \
+  --with-x \
+  --with-nls \
+  --with-readline \
+  "
+ARG GRASS_PYTHON_PACKAGES="${GRASS_PYTHON_PACKAGES} wxPython"
+# If you do not use any Gnome Accessibility features, to suppress warning
+# WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus:
+# execute programs with
+ENV NO_AT_BRIDGE=1
+
+
+FROM grass_${GUI}_gui as grass_gis
+# Add ubuntugis unstable and fetch packages
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install  -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+    software-properties-common \
+    gpg \
+    gpg-agent \
+    && LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable \
+    && apt-get update -y && apt-get upgrade -y \
+    && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+    $GRASS_RUN_PACKAGES \
+    && apt-get remove -y gpg gpg-agent \
+    && apt-get autoremove -y \
+    && apt-get clean all \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN echo LANG="en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/default/locale \
+    && echo en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.gen \
+    && locale-gen
 
 ## fetch vertical datums for PDAL and store into PROJ dir
 WORKDIR /src
-RUN mkdir vdatum && \
-    cd vdatum && \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/usa_geoid2012.zip && unzip -j -u usa_geoid2012.zip -d /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/usa_geoid2009.zip && unzip -j -u usa_geoid2009.zip -d /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/usa_geoid2003.zip && unzip -j -u usa_geoid2003.zip -d /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/usa_geoid1999.zip && unzip -j -u usa_geoid1999.zip -d /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/vertcon/vertconc.gtx && mv vertconc.gtx /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/vertcon/vertcone.gtx && mv vertcone.gtx /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/vertcon/vertconw.gtx && mv vertconw.gtx /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/egm96_15/egm96_15.gtx && mv egm96_15.gtx /usr/share/proj; \
-    wget -q http://download.osgeo.org/proj/vdatum/egm08_25/egm08_25.gtx && mv egm08_25.gtx /usr/share/proj; \
-    cd .. && \
-    rm -rf vdatum
-
-## compile and install PDAL (not available on Debian/Ubuntu) with laz-perf enabled
-ENV NUMTHREADS=4
-WORKDIR /src
-RUN wget -q \
- https://github.com/PDAL/PDAL/releases/download/${PDAL_VERSION}/PDAL-${PDAL_VERSION}-src.tar.gz && \
-    tar xfz PDAL-${PDAL_VERSION}-src.tar.gz && \
-    cd /src/PDAL-${PDAL_VERSION}-src && \
-    mkdir build && \
-    cd build && \
-    cmake .. \
-      -G "Unix Makefiles" \
-      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
-      -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc \
-      -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++ \
-      -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=make \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_PYTHON=ON \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_CPD=OFF \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_GREYHOUND=ON \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_HEXBIN=ON \
-      -DHEXER_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/include/ \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_NITF=OFF \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_ICEBRIDGE=ON \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_PGPOINTCLOUD=OFF \
-      -DBUILD_PGPOINTCLOUD_TESTS=OFF \
-      -DBUILD_PLUGIN_SQLITE=ON \
-      -DWITH_LASZIP=OFF \
-      -DWITH_LAZPERF=ON \
-      -DWITH_TESTS=ON && \
-    make -j $NUMTHREADS && \
-    make install
+
+# # Get datum grids
+# # Currently using https://proj.org/en/9.3/usage/network.html#how-to-enable-network-capabilities
+# FROM ubuntu:22.04 as datum_grids
+
+# # See: https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ-data
+# RUN apt-get update \
+#     && apt-get install  -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+#     wget \
+#     && apt-get clean all \
+#     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# WORKDIR /tmp
+# RUN wget --no-check-certificate -r -l inf -A tif https://cdn.proj.org/
+
+# Start build stage
+FROM grass_gis as build
+
+# Add build packages
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install  -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+    $GRASS_BUILD_PACKAGES \
+    && apt-get clean all \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Add pip and Python packages
+RUN (echo "Install Python" \
+    && wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/get-pip.py \
+    # && apt-get install -y python3-ensurepip \
+    && python3 get-pip.py \
+    # && python3 -m ensurepip --upgrade \
+    && rm -r get-pip.py \
+    && mkdir -p /src/site-packages \
+    && cd /src \
+    && python3 -m pip install --no-cache-dir -t /src/site-packages --upgrade \
+    $GRASS_PYTHON_PACKAGES \
+    && rm -r /root/.cache \
+    && rm -rf /tmp/pip-* \
+    )
 
 # copy grass gis source
-WORKDIR /src
 COPY . /src/grass_build/
-WORKDIR /src/grass_build
 
-# Cleanup potentially leftover GISRC file with wrong path to "demolocation"
-RUN rm -f /src/grass_build/dist.*/demolocation/.grassrc*
+WORKDIR /src/grass_build
 
 # Set environmental variables for GRASS GIS compilation, without debug symbols
 # Set gcc/g++ environmental variables for GRASS GIS compilation, without debug symbols
 ENV MYCFLAGS "-O2 -std=gnu99 -m64"
 ENV MYLDFLAGS "-s"
 # CXX stuff:
-ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH "/usr/local/lib"
+#ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH "/usr/local/lib"
 ENV LDFLAGS "$MYLDFLAGS"
 ENV CFLAGS "$MYCFLAGS"
 ENV CXXFLAGS "$MYCXXFLAGS"
@@ -152,79 +274,60 @@ ENV CXXFLAGS "$MYCXXFLAGS"
 ENV GRASS_PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3
 ENV NUMTHREADS=4
 RUN make distclean || echo "nothing to clean"
-RUN /src/grass_build/configure \
-  --with-cxx \
-  --enable-largefile \
-  --with-proj-share=/usr/share/proj \
-  --with-gdal=/usr/bin/gdal-config \
-  --with-geos \
-  --with-sqlite \
-  --with-cairo --with-cairo-ldflags=-lfontconfig \
-  --with-freetype --with-freetype-includes="/usr/include/freetype2/" \
-  --with-fftw \
-  --with-postgres --with-postgres-includes="/usr/include/postgresql" \
-  --with-netcdf \
-  --with-zstd \
-  --with-bzlib \
-  --with-pdal \
-  --without-mysql \
-  --without-odbc \
-  --without-openmp \
-  --without-opengl \
+RUN ./configure $GRASS_CONFIG \
     && make -j $NUMTHREADS \
-    && make install && ldconfig
-
-# Unset environmental variables to avoid later compilation issues
-ENV INTEL ""
-ENV MYCFLAGS ""
-ENV MYLDFLAGS ""
-ENV MYCXXFLAGS ""
-ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH ""
-ENV LDFLAGS ""
-ENV CFLAGS ""
-ENV CXXFLAGS ""
-
-# set SHELL var to avoid /bin/sh fallback in interactive GRASS GIS sessions
-ENV SHELL /bin/bash
-ENV LC_ALL "en_US.UTF-8"
-ENV GRASS_SKIP_MAPSET_OWNER_CHECK 1
-
-# https://proj.org/usage/environmentvars.html#envvar-PROJ_NETWORK
-ENV PROJ_NETWORK=ON
-
-# Create generic GRASS GIS lib name regardless of version number
-RUN ln -sf /usr/local/grass84 /usr/local/grass
-
-# show GRASS GIS, PROJ, GDAL etc versions
-RUN grass --tmp-location EPSG:4326 --exec g.version -rge && \
-    pdal --version && \
-    python3 --version
+    && make install && ldconfig \
+    &&  cp /usr/local/grass84/gui/wxpython/xml/module_items.xml module_items.xml; \
+    rm -rf /usr/local/grass84/demolocation; \
+    rm -rf /usr/local/grass84/fonts; \
+    rm -rf /usr/local/grass84/gui; \
+    rm -rf /usr/local/grass84/share; \
+    mkdir -p /usr/local/grass84/gui/wxpython/xml/; \
+    mv module_items.xml /usr/local/grass84/gui/wxpython/xml/module_items.xml;
 
-# Reduce the image size
-RUN apt-get autoremove -y
-RUN apt-get clean -y
-RUN rm -r /src/grass_build/.git
-
-WORKDIR /scripts
+# Build the GDAL-GRASS plugin
+RUN git clone https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal-grass \
+    && cd "gdal-grass" \
+    && ./configure \
+      --with-gdal=/usr/bin/gdal-config \
+      --with-grass=/usr/local/grass84 \
+    && make -j $NUMTHREADS \
+    && make install -j $NUMTHREADS \
+    && cd /src \
+    && rm -rf "gdal-grass"
 
-# install external GRASS GIS session Python API
-RUN pip3 install grass-session
+# Leave build stage
+FROM grass_gis as grass_gis_final
 
+# GRASS GIS specific
+# allow work with MAPSETs that are not owned by current user
 # add GRASS GIS envs for python usage
-ENV GISBASE "/usr/local/grass/"
-ENV GRASSBIN "/usr/local/bin/grass"
-ENV PYTHONPATH "${PYTHONPATH}:$GISBASE/etc/python/"
-ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH "$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$GISBASE/lib"
+ENV GRASSBIN="/usr/local/bin/grass" \
+    GRASS_SKIP_MAPSET_OWNER_CHECK=1 \
+    SHELL="/bin/bash" \
+    # https://proj.org/usage/environmentvars.html#envvar-PROJ_NETWORK
+    PROJ_NETWORK=ON \
+    # GRASSBIN=grass \
+    LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8" \
+    GISBASE="/usr/local/grass/" \
+    GRASSBIN="/usr/local/bin/grass" \
+    PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/usr/local/grass/etc/python/" \
+    LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/grass/lib" \
+    GDAL_DRIVER_PATH="/usr/lib/gdalplugins"
 
-WORKDIR /tmp
-COPY docker/testdata/simple.laz .
-WORKDIR /scripts
-COPY docker/testdata/test_grass_session.py .
-## just scan the LAZ file
-# Not yet ready for GRASS GIS 8:
-#RUN /usr/bin/python3 /scripts/test_grass_session.py
-# test LAZ file
-RUN grass --tmp-location EPSG:25832 --exec r.in.pdal input="/tmp/simple.laz" output="count_1" method="n" resolution=1 -g
+# Copy GRASS GIS from build image
+COPY --link --from=build /usr/local/bin/* /usr/local/bin/
+COPY --link --from=build /usr/local/grass84 /usr/local/grass84/
+COPY --link --from=build /src/site-packages /usr/lib/python3.10/
+COPY --link --from=build /usr/lib/gdalplugins /usr/lib/gdalplugins
+# COPY --link --from=datum_grids /tmp/cdn.proj.org/*.tif /usr/share/proj/
 
+# Create generic GRASS GIS lib name regardless of version number
+RUN ln -sf /usr/local/grass84 /usr/local/grass \
+    && ldconfig /etc/ld.so.conf.d
+
+# Data workdir
 WORKDIR /grassdb
 VOLUME /grassdb
+
+CMD ["bash", "-c", "$GRASSBIN", "--version"]
diff --git a/docker/ubuntu/Dockerfile b/docker/ubuntu/Dockerfile
index 667e9179ad9..a2e93b423cf 100644
--- a/docker/ubuntu/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/ubuntu/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.4
 
+# Note: This file must be kept in sync in ./Dockerfile and ./docker/ubuntu/Dockerfile.
+#       Changes to this file must be copied over to the other file.  
+
 ARG GUI=without
 
 FROM ubuntu:22.04 as common_start