diff --git a/ci/build_wheel.sh b/ci/build_wheel.sh
index 18ad725ab..3b4b034f1 100755
--- a/ci/build_wheel.sh
+++ b/ci/build_wheel.sh
@@ -38,9 +38,6 @@ else
     echo "apt package manager was found"
     apt update
     apt install yasm libopenslide-dev -y
-    # dpkg -L libopenslide-dev
-
-    # git apply ci/omit-cuslide-benchmarks-and-tests.patch
 fi
 
 # First build the C++ lib using CMake via the run script
@@ -49,22 +46,18 @@ fi
 # Build the C++ cuslide and cumed plugins
 ./run build_local cuslide ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
 cp -P -r cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cuslide/install/lib/* ./install/lib/
-# omit copying potentially non-existent binaries due to patch above.
-# they don't go in the wheel anyways
-# cp -P -r cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cuslide/install/bin/* ./install/bin/
+# omit copying binaries as they don't go in the wheel
 
 ./run build_local cumed ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
 cp -P -r cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cumed/install/lib/* ./install/lib/
-# cp -P -r cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cumed/install/bin/* ./install/bin/
-
-# problems: boost-header-only takes a long time to download
+# omit copying binaries as they don't go in the wheel
 
 # Compile the Python bindings
 ./run build_local cucim ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
 
 # Copy the resulting cucim pybind11 shared library into the Python package src folder
 cp -P python/install/lib/* python/cucim/src/cucim/clara/
-# also need these files in the clara wheel
+# also need these plugin / libcucim shared libraries in the clara wheel
 cp -P install/lib/*.so python/cucim/src/cucim/clara/
 
 cd "${package_dir}"
diff --git a/ci/omit-cuslide-benchmarks-and-tests.patch b/ci/omit-cuslide-benchmarks-and-tests.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index f31f50e35..000000000
--- a/ci/omit-cuslide-benchmarks-and-tests.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,62 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
-index 0ab2e17..2a42462 100644
---- a/CMakeLists.txt
-+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
-@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ set(CUCIM_PACKAGE_NAME cucim) # cucim
- ################################################################################
- add_subdirectory(cpp)
- add_subdirectory(gds)
--add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
-+# add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
- add_subdirectory(examples/cpp)
- 
- ################################################################################
-@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/examples/cpp/CMakeLists.txt.examples.re
- set(INSTALL_TARGETS
-         ${CUCIM_PACKAGE_NAME}
-         fmt-header-only
--        cucim_benchmarks
-+        # cucim_benchmarks
-         )
- 
- install(TARGETS ${INSTALL_TARGETS}
-diff --git a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
-index 67409a6..d2230b3 100644
---- a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
-+++ b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
-@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ add_library(${CUCIM_PACKAGE_NAME}::${CUCIM_PACKAGE_NAME}-header-only ALIAS ${CUC
- ################################################################################
- # Add tests
- ################################################################################
--add_subdirectory(tests)
-+# add_subdirectory(tests)
- 
- #################################################################################
- ## Add bindings
-diff --git a/cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cuslide/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cuslide/CMakeLists.txt
-index 37dbca4..3cb57a6 100644
---- a/cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cuslide/CMakeLists.txt
-+++ b/cpp/plugins/cucim.kit.cuslide/CMakeLists.txt
-@@ -257,17 +257,17 @@ set_target_properties(${CUCIM_PLUGIN_NAME} PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME "${CUCIM_PLUGI
- 
- ################################################################################
- # Add tests
--#########################################################std#######################
--add_subdirectory(tests)
--add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
-+################################################################################
-+# add_subdirectory(tests)
-+# add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
- 
- ################################################################################
- # Install
- ################################################################################
- set(INSTALL_TARGETS
-         ${CUCIM_PLUGIN_NAME}
--        cuslide_tests
--        cuslide_benchmarks
-+        # cuslide_tests
-+        # cuslide_benchmarks
-         )
- 
- install(TARGETS ${INSTALL_TARGETS}
diff --git a/dependencies.yaml b/dependencies.yaml
index f34578ca2..edac5d4a6 100644
--- a/dependencies.yaml
+++ b/dependencies.yaml
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ dependencies:
           - tifffile>=2022.7.28
       - output_types: [conda]
         packages:
-          # TODO: fix dependencies and move imagecodecs & openslide-python back up to the common
+          # TODO: move imagecodecs & openslide-python back up to the common
           #   section above. (doesn't seem that imagecodecs has an arm64 wheel)
           - imagecodecs>=2021.6.8
           - openslide-python>=1.1.2
@@ -273,11 +273,3 @@ dependencies:
           # listed as optional. They are needed in order to run the full test
           # suite, including the `cucim.clara` package.
           - click
-          # - jbig
-          # - libwebp-base
-          # - xz
-          # - zlib
-          # - zstd
-          # Not sure where these go, if anywhere:
-          # - openslide
-          # - xorg-libxcb