diff --git a/.flake8 b/.flake8
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5cb0b8fb9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.flake8
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# This file is part of the EESSI build-and-deploy bot,
+# see https://github.com/EESSI/eessi-bot-software-layer
+#
+# author: Kenneth Hoste (@boegel)
+#
+# license: GPLv2
+#
+
+[flake8]
+max-line-length = 120
+
+# ignore "Black would make changes" produced by flake8-black
+# see also https://github.com/houndci/hound/issues/1769
+extend-ignore = BLK100
diff --git a/.github/workflows/script_module_list.yml b/.github/workflows/script_module_list.yml
index 6874a69ad7..00d38f7c02 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/script_module_list.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/script_module_list.yml
@@ -19,16 +19,14 @@ jobs:
     name: Lint
     steps:
       - name: Check out source repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@93ea575cb5d8a053eaa0ac8fa3b40d7e05a33cc8 # v3.1.0
       - name: Set up Python environment
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@13ae5bb136fac2878aff31522b9efb785519f984 # v4.3.0
         with:
           python-version: "3.6"
-      - name: flake8 Lint
-        uses: py-actions/flake8@v2
-        with:
-          max-line-length: "120"
-          path: "scripts/available_software"
+      - name: Run flake8 to verify PEP8-compliance of Python code
+        run: |
+          flake8
 
   pytest-tests:
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
@@ -37,7 +35,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@13ae5bb136fac2878aff31522b9efb785519f984 # v4.3.0
         with:
-          python-version: '3.10'
+          python-version: '3.6'
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           cd scripts/available_software