diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 90e997d..55285a0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        java: [11, 17]
+        java: [8, 11, 17]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
diff --git a/.scala-steward.conf b/.scala-steward.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef635b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.scala-steward.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+updates.ignore = [
+  // These updates are ignored to ensure JDK 1.8 support
+  { groupId = "org.eclipse.jgit", artifactId = "org.eclipse.jgit" },
+  { groupId = "ch.qos.logback", artifactId = "logback-classic"}
+]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2f2422f..f376dbf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 A tool for generating bytecode diffs
 
-Requires JDK 11+
+Requires JDK 8+
 
 ## About
 
diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index fd9126b..e9200af 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@ lazy val core = (
       "org.ow2.asm" % "asm" % AsmVersion,
       "org.ow2.asm" % "asm-util" % AsmVersion,
       "org.scala-lang" % "scalap" % System.getProperty("scalap.version", scalaVersion.value),
-      "org.eclipse.jgit" % "org.eclipse.jgit" % "6.7.0.202309050840-r",
+      "org.eclipse.jgit" % "org.eclipse.jgit" % "5.13.2.202306221912-r",
       "org.slf4j" % "slf4j-api" % "2.0.9",
       "org.slf4j" % "log4j-over-slf4j" % "2.0.9", // for any java classes looking for this
-      "ch.qos.logback" % "logback-classic" % "1.4.11",
+      "ch.qos.logback" % "logback-classic" % "1.3.11",
       "org.scalatest" %% "scalatest" % "3.2.17" % Test,
     ),
     name := buildName + "-core",
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/JDK8SmokeTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/JDK8SmokeTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..149118d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/JDK8SmokeTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.Git
+import org.scalatest.flatspec.AnyFlatSpec
+import org.scalatest.matchers.should.Matchers
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
+
+final class JDK8SmokeTest extends AnyFlatSpec with Matchers {
+  behavior of "Testing dependencies are compiled with JDK 1.8"
+
+  it should "make sure slf4j/logback works" in {
+    LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass.getName)
+  }
+
+  it should "make sure JGit works" in {
+    Git.init
+  }
+}