Add workflow for deprecated python + remove 3.8 support

Author: fealho

.github/workflows/deprecated-python.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+name: Deprecated Python CI
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '0 20 * * 3' # Every Wednesday at 20:00 UTC
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - issue-2681-py38
+
+jobs:
+  tests:
+    name: Test on Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} (deprecated)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    continue-on-error: true
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - python-version: '3.7'
+            os: ubuntu-22.04
+          - python-version: '3.8'
+            os: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+
+      - name: Upgrade pip
+        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+
+      - name: Relax requires-python lower bound for installation
+        run: |
+          sed -i.bak -E "s/requires-python = '>=3\.[0-9]+/requires-python = '>=${{ matrix.python-version }}/" pyproject.toml
+          grep -n "requires-python" pyproject.toml
+
+      - name: Install package and test dependencies
+        run: python -m pip install -e ".[test]"
+
+      - name: Run unit tests
+        run: invoke unit
+      - name: Run integration tests
+        run: invoke integration

.github/workflows/dtypes_benchmark.yml

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ jobs:
 
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
+        python-version: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code

.github/workflows/install.yaml

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: true
       matrix:
-        python_version: ["3.8", "3.13"]
+        python_version: ["3.9", "3.13"]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Set up python ${{ matrix.python_version }}

.github/workflows/integration.yml

@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: true
       matrix:
-        python-version: [ '3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
+        python-version: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
         os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
         include:
           - os: macos-latest
-            python-version: '3.8'
+            python-version: '3.9'
           - os: macos-latest
             python-version: '3.13'
     steps:

.github/workflows/minimum.yml

@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: true
       matrix:
-        python-version: [ '3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
+        python-version: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
         os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
         include:
           - os: macos-latest
-            python-version: '3.8'
+            python-version: '3.9'
           - os: macos-latest
             python-version: '3.13'
     steps:

.github/workflows/unit.yml

@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: true
       matrix:
-        python-version: [ '3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
+        python-version: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
         os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
         include:
           - os: macos-latest
-            python-version: '3.8'
+            python-version: '3.9'
           - os: macos-latest
             python-version: '3.13'
     steps:

pyproject.toml

@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ classifiers = [
     'License :: Free for non-commercial use',
     'Natural Language :: English',
     'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
     'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
     'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
     'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
@@ -19,7 +18,7 @@ classifiers = [
 keywords = ['sdv', 'synthetic-data', 'synhtetic-data-generation', 'timeseries', 'single-table', 'multi-table']
 dynamic = ['version']
 license = { text = 'BSL-1.1' }
-requires-python = '>=3.8,<3.14'
+requires-python = '>=3.9,<3.14'
 readme = 'README.md'
 dependencies = [
     'boto3>=1.28,<2.0.0',