Remove Python 3.8 support + deprecate Python 3.9 (#1732)

Python 3.8 reached upstream EOL on 7th October 2024:
https://devguide.python.org/versions/#supported-versions

The Python version support policy is that supported versions
follows the upstream EOL lifecycle:
https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/python-support#python-version-support-policy

As such, the buildpack has been showing a deprecation warning with a
scheduled removal date since December 2023:
- #1515
- #1721
- https://devcenter.heroku.com/changelog-items/2768

(Plus Python 3.8 binaries have never been available for Heroku-22
or Heroku-24, meaning it was only ever supported on Heroku-20
and older.)

Dropping support for Python 3.8 also unblocks upgrading to Poetry v2
(which has already dropped 3.8 support).

Apps using Python 3.8 that aren't able to upgrade immediately will
need to pin to an older buildpack version temporarily (which will
work until Heroku-20 EOLs).

A deprecation warning has now also been added for Python 3.9.

GUS-W-17472311.
GUS-W-14846945.

Author: edmorley

.github/workflows/build_python_runtime.yml

@@ -58,8 +58,7 @@ jobs:
         run: aws s3 sync ./upload "s3://${S3_BUCKET}"
 
   heroku-22:
-    # On Heroku-22 we only support Python 3.9+.
-    if: inputs.stack == 'heroku-22' || (inputs.stack == 'auto' && !startsWith(inputs.python_version,'3.8.'))
+    if: inputs.stack == 'heroku-22' || inputs.stack == 'auto'
     runs-on: pub-hk-ubuntu-24.04-xlarge
     env:
       STACK_VERSION: "22"
@@ -80,8 +79,7 @@ jobs:
         run: aws s3 sync ./upload "s3://${S3_BUCKET}"
 
   heroku-24:
-    # On Heroku-24 we only support Python 3.9+.
-    if: inputs.stack == 'heroku-24' || (inputs.stack == 'auto' && !startsWith(inputs.python_version,'3.8.'))
+    if: inputs.stack == 'heroku-24' || inputs.stack == 'auto'
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- Added a deprecation warning for Python 3.9. ([#1732](https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-python/pull/1732))
+- Removed support for Python 3.8. ([#1732](https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-python/pull/1732))
+- Improved the error messages shown for EOL or unrecognised major Python versions. ([#1732](https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-python/pull/1732))
 
 ## [v273] - 2025-01-03
 

README.md

@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ The supported Python versions are:
 These Python versions are deprecated on Heroku:
 
 - Python 3.9
-- Python 3.8 (only available on the [Heroku-20](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-20-stack) stack)
 
 Python versions older than those listed above are no longer supported, since they have reached
 end-of-life [upstream](https://devguide.python.org/versions/#supported-versions).

bin/compile

@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ meta_time "package_manager_install_duration" "${package_manager_install_start_ti
 # Installs the sqlite3 dev headers and sqlite3 binary but not the
 # libsqlite3-0 library since that exists in the base image.
 # We skip this step on Python 3.13 or when using Poetry, as a first step towards removing this feature.
-if [[ "${python_major_version}" == +(3.8|3.9|3.10|3.11|3.12) && "${package_manager}" != "poetry" ]]; then
+if [[ "${python_major_version}" == +(3.9|3.10|3.11|3.12) && "${package_manager}" != "poetry" ]]; then
 	install_sqlite_start_time=$(nowms)
 	source "${BUILDPACK_DIR}/bin/steps/sqlite3"
 	buildpack_sqlite3_install

bin/steps/python

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ PYTHON_URL="${S3_BASE_URL}/python-${python_full_version}-ubuntu-${UBUNTU_VERSION
 # 1. It's a Python major version we've deprecated and so is only available on older stacks (i.e: Python 3.8).
 # 2. If an exact Python version was requested and the patch version doesn't exist (e.g. 3.12.999).
 # 3. The user has pinned to an older buildpack version and the S3 bucket location or layout has changed since.
-# TODO: Update this message to be more specific once Python 3.8 support is dropped.
+# TODO: Update this message to be more specific now that Python 3.8 support has been removed, and so (1) can no longer occur.
 if ! curl --output /dev/null --silent --head --fail --retry 3 --retry-connrefused --connect-timeout 10 "${PYTHON_URL}"; then
 	output::error <<-EOF
 		Error: Python ${python_full_version} isn't available for this stack (${STACK}).
@@ -74,18 +74,22 @@ function warn_if_patch_update_available() {
 # We wait until now to display outdated Python version warnings, since we only want to show them
 # if there weren't any errors with the version to avoid adding noise to the error messages.
 # TODO: Move this into lib/ as part of the warnings refactor.
-if [[ "${python_major_version}" == "3.8" ]]; then
-	output::warning <<-'EOF'
-		Warning: Support for Python 3.8 is ending soon!
+if [[ "${python_major_version}" == "3.9" ]]; then
+	output::warning <<-EOF
+		Warning: Support for Python 3.9 is ending soon!
 
-		Python 3.8 reached its upstream end-of-life on 7th October 2024, and so
-		no longer receives security updates:
+		Python 3.9 will reach its upstream end-of-life in October 2025,
+		at which point it will no longer receive security updates:
 		https://devguide.python.org/versions/#supported-versions
 
-		Support for Python 3.8 will be removed from this buildpack on 7th January 2025.
+		As such, support for Python 3.9 will be removed from this
+		buildpack on 7th January 2026.
 
-		Upgrade to a newer Python version as soon as possible to keep your app secure.
-		See: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/python-runtimes
+		Upgrade to a newer Python version as soon as possible, by
+		changing the version in your ${python_version_origin} file.
+
+		For more information, see:
+		https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/python-support#supported-python-versions
 	EOF
 fi
 

builds/build_python_runtime.sh

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ function abort() {
 }
 
 case "${STACK:?}" in
-	heroku-22 | heroku-24)
+	heroku-20 | heroku-22 | heroku-24)
 		SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSIONS=(
 			"3.9"
 			"3.10"
@@ -30,16 +30,6 @@ case "${STACK:?}" in
 			"3.13"
 		)
 		;;
-	heroku-20)
-		SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSIONS=(
-			"3.8"
-			"3.9"
-			"3.10"
-			"3.11"
-			"3.12"
-			"3.13"
-		)
-		;;
 	*)
 		abort "Unsupported stack '${STACK}'!"
 		;;
@@ -63,7 +53,7 @@ case "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" in
 		# https://keybase.io/pablogsal/
 		GPG_KEY_FINGERPRINT='A035C8C19219BA821ECEA86B64E628F8D684696D'
 		;;
-	3.8 | 3.9)
+	3.9)
 		# https://keybase.io/ambv/
 		GPG_KEY_FINGERPRINT='E3FF2839C048B25C084DEBE9B26995E310250568'
 		;;
@@ -122,7 +112,7 @@ CONFIGURE_OPTS=(
 	"--with-system-expat"
 )
 
-if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" != +(3.8|3.9) ]]; then
+if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" != +(3.9) ]]; then
 	CONFIGURE_OPTS+=(
 		# Shared builds are beneficial for a number of reasons:
 		# - Reduces the size of the build, since it avoids the duplication between
@@ -147,7 +137,7 @@ if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" != +(3.8|3.9) ]]; then
 	)
 fi
 
-if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" != +(3.8|3.9|3.10) ]]; then
+if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" != +(3.9|3.10) ]]; then
 	CONFIGURE_OPTS+=(
 		# Skip building the test modules, since we remove them after the build anyway.
 		# This feature was added in Python 3.10+, however it wasn't until Python 3.11
@@ -170,7 +160,7 @@ fi
 # - https://github.com/docker-library/python/issues/810
 # We only use `dpkg-buildflags` for Python versions where we build in shared mode (Python 3.9+),
 # since some of the options it enables interferes with the stripping of static libraries.
-if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" == +(3.8|3.9) ]]; then
+if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" == +(3.9) ]]; then
 	EXTRA_CFLAGS=''
 	LDFLAGS='-Wl,--strip-all'
 else
@@ -182,7 +172,7 @@ CPU_COUNT="$(nproc)"
 make -j "${CPU_COUNT}" "EXTRA_CFLAGS=${EXTRA_CFLAGS}" "LDFLAGS=${LDFLAGS}"
 make install
 
-if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" == +(3.8|3.9) ]]; then
+if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" == +(3.9) ]]; then
 	# On older versions of Python we're still building the static library, which has to be
 	# manually stripped since the linker stripping enabled in LDFLAGS doesn't cover them.
 	# We're using `--strip-unneeded` since `--strip-all` would remove the `.symtab` section
@@ -233,7 +223,7 @@ LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${SRC_DIR}" "${SRC_DIR}/python" -m compileall -f --invalidation
 # (e.g. `python -m pydoc`) if needed.
 rm "${INSTALL_DIR}"/bin/{idle,pydoc}*
 # The 2to3 module and entrypoint was removed from the stdlib in Python 3.13.
-if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" == +(3.8|3.9|3.10|3.11|3.12) ]]; then
+if [[ "${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}" == +(3.9|3.10|3.11|3.12) ]]; then
 	rm "${INSTALL_DIR}"/bin/2to3*
 fi
 

lib/pip.sh

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ function pip::install_pip_setuptools_wheel() {
 	#   them installed.
 	# - Most of the Python ecosystem has stopped installing them for Python 3.12+ already.
 	# See the Python CNB's removal for more details: https://github.com/heroku/buildpacks-python/pull/243
-	if [[ "${python_major_version}" == +(3.8|3.9|3.10|3.11|3.12) ]]; then
+	if [[ "${python_major_version}" == +(3.9|3.10|3.11|3.12) ]]; then
 		meta_set "setuptools_version" "${SETUPTOOLS_VERSION}"
 		meta_set "wheel_version" "${WHEEL_VERSION}"
 		packages_to_install+=(

lib/python_version.sh

@@ -4,13 +4,15 @@
 # however, it helps Shellcheck realise the options under which these functions will run.
 set -euo pipefail
 
-LATEST_PYTHON_3_8="3.8.20"
 LATEST_PYTHON_3_9="3.9.21"
 LATEST_PYTHON_3_10="3.10.16"
 LATEST_PYTHON_3_11="3.11.11"
 LATEST_PYTHON_3_12="3.12.8"
 LATEST_PYTHON_3_13="3.13.1"
 
+OLDEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION=9
+NEWEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION=13
+
 DEFAULT_PYTHON_FULL_VERSION="${LATEST_PYTHON_3_13}"
 DEFAULT_PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION="${DEFAULT_PYTHON_FULL_VERSION%.*}"
 
@@ -280,7 +282,7 @@ function python_version::resolve_python_version() {
 	local major="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
 	local minor="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
 
-	if ((major < 3 || (major == 3 && minor < 8))); then
+	if ((major < 3 || (major == 3 && minor < OLDEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION))); then
 		if [[ "${python_version_origin}" == "cached" ]]; then
 			output::error <<-EOF
 				Error: The cached Python version has reached end-of-life.
@@ -292,14 +294,13 @@ function python_version::resolve_python_version() {
 				and is therefore no longer receiving security updates:
 				https://devguide.python.org/versions/#supported-versions
 
-				As such, it is no longer supported by this buildpack.
-
-				Please upgrade to a newer Python version by creating a
-				'.python-version' file that contains a Python version like:
-				${DEFAULT_PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}
-
-				For a list of the supported Python versions, see:
+				As such, it's no longer supported by this buildpack:
 				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/python-support#supported-python-versions
+
+				Please upgrade to at least Python 3.${OLDEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION} by creating a
+				.python-version file in the root directory of your app,
+				that contains a Python version like:
+				3.${OLDEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION}
 			EOF
 		else
 			output::error <<-EOF
@@ -309,20 +310,18 @@ function python_version::resolve_python_version() {
 				therefore no longer receiving security updates:
 				https://devguide.python.org/versions/#supported-versions
 
-				As such, it is no longer supported by this buildpack.
-
-				Please upgrade to a newer Python version by updating the
-				version configured via the '${python_version_origin}' file.
-
-				For a list of the supported Python versions, see:
+				As such, it's no longer supported by this buildpack:
 				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/python-support#supported-python-versions
+
+				Please upgrade to at least Python 3.${OLDEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION} by changing the
+				version in your ${python_version_origin} file.
 			EOF
 		fi
 		meta_set "failure_reason" "python-version::eol"
 		exit 1
 	fi
 
-	if (((major == 3 && minor > 13) || major >= 4)); then
+	if (((major == 3 && minor > NEWEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION) || major >= 4)); then
 		if [[ "${python_version_origin}" == "cached" ]]; then
 			output::error <<-EOF
 				Error: The cached Python version isn't recognised.
@@ -336,7 +335,14 @@ function python_version::resolve_python_version() {
 				This can occur if you have downgraded the version of the
 				buildpack to an older version.
 
-				Please switch back to a newer version of this buildpack.
+				Please switch back to a newer version of this buildpack:
+				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/managing-buildpacks#view-your-buildpacks
+				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/managing-buildpacks#classic-buildpacks-references
+
+				Alternatively, request an older Python version by creating
+				a .python-version file in the root directory of your app,
+				that contains a Python version like:
+				3.${NEWEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION}
 			EOF
 		else
 			output::error <<-EOF
@@ -350,12 +356,12 @@ function python_version::resolve_python_version() {
 				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/python-support#supported-python-versions
 
 				If it has, make sure that you are using the latest version
-				of this buildpack, and have not pinned to an older release:
+				of this buildpack, and haven't pinned to an older release:
 				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/managing-buildpacks#view-your-buildpacks
 				https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/managing-buildpacks#classic-buildpacks-references
 
-				Otherwise, switch to a supported version (such as Python ${DEFAULT_PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION})
-				by updating the version configured via the '${python_version_origin}' file.
+				Otherwise, switch to a supported version (such as Python 3.${NEWEST_SUPPORTED_PYTHON_3_MINOR_VERSION})
+				by changing the version in your ${python_version_origin} file.
 			EOF
 		fi
 		meta_set "failure_reason" "python-version::unknown-major"
@@ -366,7 +372,6 @@ function python_version::resolve_python_version() {
 	# Otherwise map major version specifiers to the latest patch release.
 	case "${requested_python_version}" in
 		*.*.*) echo "${requested_python_version}" ;;
-		3.8) echo "${LATEST_PYTHON_3_8}" ;;
 		3.9) echo "${LATEST_PYTHON_3_9}" ;;
 		3.10) echo "${LATEST_PYTHON_3_10}" ;;
 		3.11) echo "${LATEST_PYTHON_3_11}" ;;

spec/fixtures/pipenv_python_version_eol/Pipfile

@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ typing-extensions = "*"
 [dev-packages]
 
 [requires]
-python_version = "3.7"
+python_version = "3.8"