diff --git a/bin/pandoc-wrapper.sh b/bin/pandoc-wrapper.sh
index c67e3b2fe..e68284a6b 100755
--- a/bin/pandoc-wrapper.sh
+++ b/bin/pandoc-wrapper.sh
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 #
 # Copyright (c) 2023,2024 by Landon Curt Noll.  All Rights Reserved.
 #
+# .. with an important bug fix in November 2025 by Cody Boone Ferguson.
+#
 # Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and
 # its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
 # provided that the above copyright, this permission notice and text
@@ -143,6 +145,17 @@ if [[ $status -eq 0 ]]; then
     TOPDIR=$("$GIT_TOOL" rev-parse --show-toplevel)
 fi
 export TOPDIR
+#
+VERGE=$(type -P verge)
+export VERGE
+if [[ -z $VERGE ]]; then
+    echo "$0: FATAL: verge is not installed or not in \$PATH" 1>&2
+    echo "$0: notice: to install verge:" 1>&2
+    echo "$0: notice: run: git clone https://github.com/ioccc-src/mkiocccentry.git" 1>&2
+    echo "$0: notice: then: cd mkiocccentry && make clobber all" 1>&2
+    echo "$0: notice: then: cd jparse && sudo make install clobber" 1>&2
+    exit 5
+fi
 PANDOC_TOOL=$(type -P pandoc)
 export PANDOC_TOOL
 if [[ -z $PANDOC_TOOL ]]; then
@@ -428,9 +441,7 @@ fi
 
 # verify that the pandoc version is >= the minimum version
 #
-FIRST_VERSION=$(printf "%s\n%s" "$PANDOC_TOOL_VERSION" "$PANDOC_MIN_VERSION" | LC_ALL=C sort -V | head -1)
-export FIRST_VERSION
-if [[ $FIRST_VERSION != "$PANDOC_MIN_VERSION" ]]; then
+if ! "$VERGE" "$PANDOC_TOOL_VERSION" "$PANDOC_MIN_VERSION"; then
     echo "$0: ERROR: pandoc: $PANDOC_TOOL version: $PANDOC_TOOL_VERSION <=" \
 	 "minimum allowed: $PANDOC_MIN_VERSION" 1>&2
     echo "$0: Warning: pandoc version must be >= $PANDOC_MIN_VERSION" 1>&2
@@ -438,7 +449,6 @@ if [[ $FIRST_VERSION != "$PANDOC_MIN_VERSION" ]]; then
     exit 5
 fi
 
-
 # execute pandoc
 #
 if [[ -z $NOOP ]]; then
diff --git a/next/try.alt.sh b/next/try.alt.sh
index 1480c3fa4..d2add1b44 100755
--- a/next/try.alt.sh
+++ b/next/try.alt.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 # XXX - NOTE: please remove all "XXX - ... - XXX" lines, including this one - XXX
 # XXX -                                                                     - XXX
-# XXX - try.alt.sh example version: 28.1.1 2024-07-06                       - XXX
+# XXX - try.alt.sh example version: 29.0.0 2025-11-24                       - XXX
 
 # make sure CC is set so that when we do make CC="$CC" it isn't empty. Doing it
 # this way allows us to have the user specify a different compiler in an easy way.
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 # XXX - Later, if the submission wins, it can be changed to 'everything'.   - XXX
 # XXX -                                                                     - XXX
 MAKE=$(command -v gmake)
-${MAKE:=make} CC="$CC" all >/dev/null || exit 1
+${MAKE:=make} CC="$CC" alt >/dev/null || exit 1
 
 # clear the screen
 #
@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ clear
 
 # try the program
 #
-read -r -n 1 -p "Press any key to run: ./prog: "
+read -r -n 1 -p "Press any key to run: ./prog.alt: "
 echo 1>&2
 echo 1>&2
-./prog
+./prog.alt
 echo 1>&2
 
 # try the program with args
@@ -69,11 +69,11 @@ echo 1>&2
 # XXX -                                                                     - XXX
 echo 'Let us try another example.  Observe the line count of output and the last line of data!' 1>&2
 echo 1>&2
-read -r -n 1 -p "Press any key to run: date | ./prog some command line | LANG=C sort > data: "
+read -r -n 1 -p "Press any key to run: date | ./prog.alt some command line | LANG=C sort > data: "
 echo 1>&2
 echo 1>&2
 rm -f data
-date | ./prog some command line | LANG=C sort > data
+date | ./prog.alt some command line | LANG=C sort > data
 wc -l < data
 tail -n 1 data
 echo 1>&2
diff --git a/next/try.sh b/next/try.sh
index 16c2a0086..b0163e361 100755
--- a/next/try.sh
+++ b/next/try.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 # XXX - NOTE: please remove all "XXX - ... - XXX" lines, including this one - XXX
 # XXX -                                                                     - XXX
-# XXX - try.sh example version: 28.1.1 2024-07-06                           - XXX
+# XXX - try.sh example version: 29.0.0 2025-11-24                           - XXX
 
 # make sure CC is set so that when we do make CC="$CC" it isn't empty. Doing it
 # this way allows us to have the user specify a different compiler in an easy way.