cleanup: remove check_python() compatibility shim

The check_python() function verified that the Python runtime supported
'follow_symlinks' for os.stat, os.utime, and os.chown. This check is no
longer necessary because:

1. Borg now requires Python >= 3.10.
2. On POSIX systems (Linux, macOS, *BSD, Haiku, OmniOS), support for these
   operations relies on the *at syscalls (fstatat, etc.), which have been
   implemented in standard libc for well over a decade (e.g., FreeBSD 8.0+,
   NetBSD 6.0+, Solaris 11+).
3. On Windows (MSYS2/MinGW), Python has supported follow_symlinks for
   os.stat since Python 3.2. The removed check specifically inspected only
   os.stat on Windows, avoiding the problematic os.utime/os.chown checks.

Any platform capable of running Python 3.10 will inherently support these
standard file operations.

Author: ThomasWaldmann

src/borg/archiver/__init__.py

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     from ..helpers import format_file_size
     from ..helpers import remove_surrogates, text_to_json
     from ..helpers import DatetimeWrapper, replace_placeholders
-    from ..helpers import check_python, check_extension_modules
+    from ..helpers import check_extension_modules
     from ..helpers import is_slow_msgpack, is_supported_msgpack, sysinfo
     from ..helpers import signal_handler, raising_signal_handler, SigHup, SigTerm
     from ..helpers import ErrorIgnoringTextIOWrapper
@@ -455,9 +455,7 @@ def parse_args(self, args=None):
         return args
 
     def prerun_checks(self, logger, is_serve):
-        if not is_serve:
-            # this is the borg *client*, we need to check the python:
-            check_python()
+
         check_extension_modules()
         selftest(logger)
 

src/borg/helpers/__init__.py

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from collections import namedtuple
 
 from ..constants import *  # NOQA
-from .checks import check_extension_modules, check_python
+from .checks import check_extension_modules
 from .datastruct import StableDict, Buffer, EfficientCollectionQueue
 from .errors import Error, ErrorWithTraceback, IntegrityError, DecompressionError, CancelledByUser, CommandError
 from .errors import RTError, modern_ec

src/borg/helpers/checks.py

@@ -1,16 +1,4 @@
-import os
-
 from .errors import RTError
-from ..platformflags import is_win32
-
-
-def check_python():
-    if is_win32:
-        required_funcs = {os.stat}
-    else:
-        required_funcs = {os.stat, os.utime, os.chown}
-    if not os.supports_follow_symlinks.issuperset(required_funcs):
-        raise RTError("""FATAL: This Python was compiled for a too old (g)libc and lacks required functionality.""")
 
 
 def check_extension_modules():