diff --git a/lang/nickle/Makefile b/lang/nickle/Makefile
index f29c1187aac7..e511be14060b 100644
--- a/lang/nickle/Makefile
+++ b/lang/nickle/Makefile
@@ -1,33 +1,35 @@
 PORTNAME=	nickle
-PORTVERSION=	2.96
+PORTVERSION=	2.97
 CATEGORIES=	lang
 MASTER_SITES=	http://www.nickle.org/release/
 
 MAINTAINER=	wen@FreeBSD.org
 COMMENT=	Numeric-oriented programming language
 WWW=		https://www.nickle.org/
 
 LICENSE=	MIT
 LICENSE_FILE=	${WRKSRC}/COPYING
 
-USES=		gmake localbase ncurses readline
+USES=		gmake localbase ncurses readline shebangfix
+
+SHEBANG_FILES=	bench/runbench.sh
 
 GNU_CONFIGURE=	yes
 PORTEXAMPLES=	*
 
 # Nickle now has bindings which are likely to pull in libraries that need
 # libpthread.  Link to it now explicitly, or it wouldn't work at runtime.
 LDFLAGS+=	-pthread
 
 OPTIONS_DEFINE=	EXAMPLES
 
 post-patch:
 	@${REINPLACE_CMD} -e '/^SUBDIRS/s|examples|| ; s| -O2||' \
 		${WRKSRC}/Makefile.in
 
 post-install-EXAMPLES-on:
 	@${MKDIR} ${STAGEDIR}${EXAMPLESDIR}
 	${FIND} ${WRKSRC}/examples -name 'Makefile*' -exec ${RM} {} +
 	cd ${WRKSRC}/examples && ${COPYTREE_SHARE} . "${STAGEDIR}${EXAMPLESDIR}"
 
 .include <bsd.port.mk>
diff --git a/lang/nickle/distinfo b/lang/nickle/distinfo
index 092b8556938e..25638452c014 100644
--- a/lang/nickle/distinfo
+++ b/lang/nickle/distinfo
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-TIMESTAMP = 1701721636
-SHA256 (nickle-2.96.tar.gz) = f5edaba2c169ad4a335b0da241e316f1be40b71ca58302812d9f1ecbc74f5e06
-SIZE (nickle-2.96.tar.gz) = 2552972
+TIMESTAMP = 1705206907
+SHA256 (nickle-2.97.tar.gz) = e2d6434d1216aeec552932828f9aed52f326bd12d8e06cae0f0de4a119d40a3f
+SIZE (nickle-2.97.tar.gz) = 2553393
diff --git a/lang/nickle/pkg-plist b/lang/nickle/pkg-plist
index 5a73f673c84c..66aa03ca5983 100644
--- a/lang/nickle/pkg-plist
+++ b/lang/nickle/pkg-plist
@@ -1,60 +1,73 @@
 bin/nickle
 include/nickle/builtin-namespaces.h
 include/nickle/builtin.h
 include/nickle/nickle-config.h
 include/nickle/gram.h
 include/nickle/mem.h
 include/nickle/memp.h
 include/nickle/nickle.h
 include/nickle/opcode.h
 include/nickle/ref.h
 include/nickle/stack.h
 include/nickle/value.h
 man/man1/nickle.1.gz
 %%DATADIR%%/COPYING
 %%DATADIR%%/abort.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/arc4.5c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/choose.5c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/choose.bc
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/choose.c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/composite.5c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/composite.bc
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/composite.c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/ifact.5c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/ifact.bc
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/ifact.c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/rfact.5c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/rfact.bc
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/rfact.c
+%%DATADIR%%/bench/runbench.sh
 %%DATADIR%%/builtin.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/cha-cha.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/command.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/ctype.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/factorial.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/file.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/gamma.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/history.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/json.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/list.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/math.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/mutex.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/parse-args.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/prime_sieve.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/printf.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/prng.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/process.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/scanf.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/skiplist.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/socket.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/sort.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/string.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/svg.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/arraytest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/chacha_test.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/datetest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/factorial.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/gcdtest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/hashtest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/inttest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/is_type.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/jsontest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/math-tables.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/math.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/modtest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/optest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/orderofoptest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/rattest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/reftest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/round.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/scanf.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/signal.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/sorttest.5c
 %%DATADIR%%/test/string-file.5c