Re: CentOS 9, Python, and other Fairytales

[Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>]

John Snow <jsnow@redhat.com> writes:

> On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 3:26 PM Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com> wrote:
>> Il mer 18 feb 2026, 18:10 John Snow <jsnow@redhat.com> ha scritto:
>>> On Wed, Feb 18, 2026, 6:48 AM Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com> wrote:
>>>> Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com> writes:
>>>>
>>>> > John Snow <jsnow@redhat.com> writes:

[...]

>>>> >> My plan:
>>>> >> - Wait and see what happens after the current QEMU release
>>>> >> - Gleefully drop Ubuntu 22.04 in April (Allows Python 3.11+)
>>>> >> - Gleefully drop Debian 12 in June
>>>> >> - Hold my breath and see if FreeBSD happens to modernize by this point
>>>> >> (They have until October 2027 to do so, so it's a dice roll if they
>>>> >> will or not)
>>>> >> - Do a big round of Python modernization all at once; either to 3.11
>>>> >> or 3.12 depending, and either to Sphinx 5.x or 7.x depending, pray for
>>>> >> forgiveness that I am removing CentOS stream 9's ability to build docs
>>>> >> offline so I don't have to wait another six months and then do another
>>>> >> big cleanup round
>>>>
>>>> The main nice features of 3.12 are improved f-strings, which are nice
>>>> but not really a necessity.
>>>>
>>>> If I read it correctly, https://www.freshports.org/lang/python says it
>>>> has 3.9 on PPC and 3.11 elsewhere, but
>>>> https://www.freshports.org/lang/python311 says 3.11 exists on PPC as well.
>>>>
>>>> I'd go for 3.11 and Sphinx 7.  For FreeBSD we can require Python from Ports.
>>>
>>>
>>> freebsd ports is currently at 3.11, which is the main reason I am saying "see what freebsd does by June"
>>>
>>> if they update, we can have Python 3.12 and Sphinx 7.x. If they don't, we get 3.11 and 5.x
>>
>>
>> Why can't we do 3.11 and 7.x, and let freebsd also get sphinx from pypi until they update?
>
> Hm, I guess no reason, beyond my recalcitrance on breaking docs on a
> supported build platform unless absolutely necessary. It'd still be my
> preference to align with the native distro repo/ports versions if at
> all possible, but I suppose if FreeBSD doesn't fix itself by June or
> so that we can consider dropping docs support with ports packages at
> that time.
>
> (I think I just have Stockholm Syndrome from arguing for "unnecessary
> version bumps to get shiny new toys" and prefer to let those arguments
> come from my seniors ... so I stick with very safe changes when at all
> possible.)

You do.  Please consider going to 7.x really, really seriously.

>>
>> Paolo
>>
>>> . Both are good jumps, but on the chance I can make the bigger jump, I'd rather do it in one round instead of two.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Paolo
>>>>