[oi-dev] Heads-up: Python 3.7 reached EOL, please uninstall it

[Marcel Telka]

Hi,

Python 3.7 reached end of life[1] in June 2023 (7 months ago).

Currently there is no OpenIndiana package that depends on Python 3.7,
except some Python modules that are otherwise unused.  They are still
sitting in the IPS package repository waiting for their obsoletion.  We
are slowly obsoleting them but since there are hundreds of such packages
the process is slow.

The slowness of the process does have some negative side effects for end
users so here is the heads up and a suggestion how to solve such issues.

The issue you could encounter is a failure when you try to install or
upgrade some packages, for example:

# pkg install library/python/rbtools
Creating Plan (Running solver): -
pkg install: No matching version of library/python/rbtools can be installed:
  Reject:  pkg://openindiana.org/library/python/rbtools@4.1-2023.0.0.0:20230525T122724Z
  Reason:  No version matching 'conditional' dependency library/python/rbtools-37 at 4.1-2023.0.0.0 can be installed
    ----------------------------------------
    Reject:  pkg://openindiana.org/library/python/rbtools-37@4.1-2023.0.0.0:20230525T122701Z
    Reason:  All acceptable versions of 'require' dependency on library/python/certifi-37 are obsolete
    ----------------------------------------
#

Please note that not only library/python/* packages are affected.
Basically any package that depends on any Python-related package could
be affected similarly.

When you see similar failure stating that some package ending with '-37'
cannot be installed, then you are affected by this.

How to solve the issue?

The solution is easy:  Uninstall all Python 3.7 related packages from your
system using command like:

# pkg uninstall -v runtime/python-37 \
	'library/python/*-37' \
	web/server/apache-24/module/apache-wsgi-37

The removal of Python 3.7 packages is recommended even if you currently do not
see any issue related to Python 3.7.

Please ask if you are experiencing any unforeseen issue related to this.


Thank you.


[1] see https://devguide.python.org/versions/#versions

-- 
+-------------------------------------------+
| Marcel Telka   e-mail:   marcel at telka.sk  |
|                homepage: http://telka.sk/ |
+-------------------------------------------+