Remove support for Python 3.8 and make 3.9 minimum required (#1376)

Author: tleonhardt

.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ The tables below list all prerequisites along with the minimum required version
 
 | Prerequisite                                             | Minimum Version | Purpose                                |
 |----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|----------------------------------------|
-| [python](https://www.python.org/downloads/)              | `3.8`           | Python programming language            |
+| [python](https://www.python.org/downloads/)              | `3.9`           | Python programming language            |
 | [pyperclip](https://github.com/asweigart/pyperclip)      | `1.8.2`         | Cross-platform clipboard functions     |
 | [rich-argparse](https://pypi.org/project/rich-argparse/) | `1.6.0`         | Rich help formatters for argparse      |
 | [wcwidth](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/wcwidth)          | `0.2.12`        | Measure the displayed width of unicode |
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ on all platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux).  You can install `uv` using instruct
 
 You can then install multiple versions of Python using `uv` like so:
 ```sh
-uv python install 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13
+uv python install 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13
 ```
 
 ### Forking the project

.github/workflows/build.yml

@@ -2,15 +2,15 @@
 # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions
 name: "build"
 
-on: [push, pull_request]
+on: [ push, pull_request ]
 
 jobs:
   build:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
-        python-version: ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13"]
+        os: [ ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest ]
+        python-version: [ "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13" ]
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4 # https://github.com/actions/checkout

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ## 3.0.0 (TBD)
 * Breaking Changes
+  * `cmd2` 3.x supports Python 3.9+ (removed support for Python 3.8)
   * Removed macros
 * Enhancements
   * Simplified the process to set a custom parser for `cmd2's` built-in commands.

README.md

@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ On all operating systems, the latest stable version of `cmd2` can be installed u
 pip install -U cmd2
 ```
 
-cmd2 works with Python 3.8+ on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is pure Python code with few 3rd-party dependencies.
+cmd2 works with Python 3.9+ on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is pure Python code with few 3rd-party dependencies.
 
 For information on other installation options, see
 [Installation Instructions](https://cmd2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview/installation.html) in the cmd2

docs/conf.py

@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@
     ('py:class', 'CommandParent'),
     ('py:class', 'frame'),
     ('py:class', 'RawCommandFuncOptionalBoolReturn'),
+    ('py:class', 'r.Console'),
     ('py:class', 'rich.console.Console'),
     ('py:class', 'rich.console.ConsoleRenderable'),
     ('py:class', 'rich.console.RichCast'),

docs/overview/installation.rst

@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 Installation Instructions
 =========================
 
@@ -7,7 +6,7 @@ Installation Instructions
 .. _setuptools: https://pypi.org/project/setuptools
 .. _PyPI: https://pypi.org
 
-``cmd2`` works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It requires Python 3.8 or
+``cmd2`` works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It requires Python 3.9 or
 higher, pip_, and setuptools_. If you've got all that, then you can just:
 
 .. code-block:: shell
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ higher, pip_, and setuptools_. If you've got all that, then you can just:
 Prerequisites
 -------------
 
-If you have Python 3 >=3.8 installed from `python.org
+If you have Python 3 >=3.9 installed from `python.org
 <https://www.python.org>`_, you will already have pip_ and setuptools_, but may
 need to upgrade to the latest versions:
 

plugins/ext_test/build-pyenvs.sh

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # version numbers are: major.minor.patch
 #
 # this script will delete and recreate existing virtualenvs named
-# cmd2-3.8, etc. It will also create a .python-version
+# cmd2-3.9, etc. It will also create a .python-version
 #
 # Prerequisites:
 #   - *nix-ish environment like macOS or Linux
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # virtualenvs will be added to '.python-version'. Feel free to modify
 # this list, but note that this script intentionally won't install
 # dev, rc, or beta python releases
-declare -a pythons=("3.8" "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12")
+declare -a pythons=("3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13")
 
 # function to find the latest patch of a minor version of python
 function find_latest_version {

plugins/ext_test/noxfile.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import nox
 
 
-@nox.session(python=['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12'])
+@nox.session(python=['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13'])
 def tests(session):
     session.install('invoke', './[test]')
     session.run('invoke', 'pytest', '--junit', '--no-pty')

plugins/ext_test/setup.py

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
     license='MIT',
     package_data=PACKAGE_DATA,
     packages=['cmd2_ext_test'],
-    python_requires='>=3.8',
+    python_requires='>=3.9',
     install_requires=['cmd2 >= 2, <3'],
     setup_requires=['setuptools >= 42', 'setuptools_scm >= 3.4'],
     classifiers=[
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@
         'Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules',
         'Intended Audience :: Developers',
         'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13',
     ],
     # dependencies for development and testing
     # $ pip install -e .[dev]

plugins/template/README.md

@@ -231,28 +231,28 @@ automates the creation of these environments.
 If you prefer to create these virtualenvs by hand, do the following:
 ```
 $ cd cmd2_abbrev
-$ pyenv install 3.8.5
-$ pyenv virtualenv -p python3.8 3.8.5 cmd2-3.8
-$ pyenv install 3.9.0
-$ pyenv virtualenv -p python3.9 3.9.0 cmd2-3.9
+$ pyenv install 3.12
+$ pyenv virtualenv -p python3.12 3.12 cmd2-3.12
+$ pyenv install 3.13
+$ pyenv virtualenv -p python3.13 3.13 cmd2-3.13
 ```
 
 Now set pyenv to make both of those available at the same time:
 ```
-$ pyenv local cmd2-3.8 cmd2-3.9
+$ pyenv local cmd2-3.13 cmd2-3.13
 ```
 
 Whether you ran the script, or did it by hand, you now have isolated virtualenvs
 for each of the major python versions. This table shows various python commands,
 the version of python which will be executed, and the virtualenv it will
 utilize.
 
-| Command     | python | virtualenv |
-| ----------- | ------ | ---------- |
-| `python3.8` | 3.8.5  | cmd2-3.8   |
-| `python3.9` | 3.9.0  | cmd2-3.9   |
-| `pip3.8`    | 3.8.5  | cmd2-3.8   |
-| `pip3.9`    | 3.9.0  | cmd2-3.9   |
+| Command      | python | virtualenv |
+|--------------|--------|------------|
+| `python3.12` | 3.12   | cmd2-3.12  |
+| `python3.13` | 3.13   | cmd2-3.13  |
+| `pip3.12`    | 3.12   | cmd2-3.12  |
+| `pip3.13`    | 3.13   | cmd2-3.13  |
 
 ## Install Dependencies
 
@@ -264,11 +264,11 @@ $ pip install -e .[dev]
 This command also installs `cmd2-myplugin` "in-place", so the package points to
 the source code instead of copying files to the python `site-packages` folder.
 
-All the dependencies now have been installed in the `cmd2-3.8`
+All the dependencies now have been installed in the `cmd2-3.13`
 virtualenv. If you want to work in other virtualenvs, you'll need to manually
 select it, and install again::
 
-   $ pyenv shell cmd2-3.4
+   $ pyenv shell cmd2-3.13
    $ pip install -e .[dev]
 
 Now that you have your python environments created, you need to install the
@@ -286,8 +286,8 @@ unit tests found in the `tests` directory.
 
 ### Use nox to run unit tests in multiple versions of python
 
-The included `noxfile.py` is setup to run the unit tests in python 3.8, 3.9
-3.10, 3.11, and 3.12 You can run your unit tests in all of these versions
+The included `noxfile.py` is setup to run the unit tests in python 3.9
+3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13 You can run your unit tests in all of these versions
 of python by:
 ```
 $ nox