Meta-ticket: Remove support for outdated distros

[dimpase]

In particular, CI is running tests on post-EOL distros.

Here we collect tickets in roughly chronological order that required special care for old platforms, as well as tickets that drop support for old platforms.

Sage 9.4:

• Drop support for optional packages with system gcc 4.x on ubuntu-trusty, debian-jessie, linuxmint-17, centos-7 #31526 (Drop support for optional packages with system gcc 4.x on ubuntu-trusty, debian-jessie, linuxmint-17, centos-7)

Sage 9.5:

• {ubuntu-trusty,linuxmint-17}-gcc_spkg: numpy, ntl, nauty, ... fail to build #32281: {ubuntu-trusty,linuxmint-17}-gcc_spkg: numpy, ntl, nauty, ... fail to build
• sage-bootstrap-python: Prefer pythons that support ssl with SNI #32405 sage-bootstrap-python: Reject ancient pythons that do not support SNI
• linuxmint-17, ubuntu-trusty: scipy build error with pybind11 #32515 linuxmint-17, ubuntu-trusty: scipy build error with pybind11
• Update singular to 4.2.1p3 #32907 Update singular to 4.2.1p2 (required patching flint for ubuntu-trusty)
• update and promote spkg primecount #25009 primecount required patching for ubuntu-trusty etc. and would require patching for debian-jessie
• tox.ini, GH Actions: Update Linux platforms #32947 Drop support for debian-jessie - gcc 4.9; past EOL LTS, extended LTS (commercial, separate from Debian, till June 2022), see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianReleases).
• GH Actions: Remove ubuntu-groovy #33068 GH Actions: Remove ubuntu-groovy

Sage 9.6:

• no changes to supported platforms
• tox / GH Actions: Add centos-7-devtoolset-gcc_{9,10,11} #32965: tox / GH Actions: Add fedora/centos variants using devtoolset
• tox / GH Actions: Add ubuntu variants using ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r #32966: tox / GH Actions: Add ubuntu variants using ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r

Sage 9.7:

• Drop support for GCC < 6.3 in Sage 9.7 #33316 Drop support for GCC < 6.3, motivated by stricter compiler requirements in numpy 1.22.x, scipy 1.8.x (Update numpy to 1.22.x, scipy 1.8.x, networkx 2.8.x #32423), linbox (Upgrade to givaro-4.2.0 fflas-ffpack-2.5.0 linbox-1.7.0 #32959), e-antic/Normaliz (Update Normaliz to 3.9.x, pynormaliz to 2.17, e-antic to 1.x, add optional package antic #31588):
  • ubuntu-trusty 14.04 is long past "standard support", but EOL has been extended to Apr 2024. Replace by ubuntu-trusty-toolchain-gcc_9
  • Likewise for ubuntu-xenial: replace by ubuntu-xenial-toolchain-gcc_9
  • centos-7 has EOL June 2024, gcc 4.x. Replace by centos-7-devtoolset-gcc_11
  • linuxmint-17 had EOL 2019. gcc 4.x. Drop
  • linuxmint-18 had EOL 2021, gcc 5.4. Drop
  • slackware-14.2 with gcc 5.5. Drop
• Soft drop of support for Cygwin

Sage 9.8:

• Reduce R to a dummy package, upgrade rpy2 to 3.4.5 #34268 Reduce R to a dummy package, upgrade rpy2 to 3.4.5 -- this drops support for R on ubuntu-trusty, ubuntu-xenial, ubuntu-bionic, debian-stretch, fedora-26.
• Drop support for GCC < 8 in Sage 9.8 #34266 Drop support for GCC < 8, motivated by stricter compiler requirements in scipy 1.10.x, which needs C++ 17 language support and specifically GCC >= 8 - http://scipy.github.io/devdocs/dev/toolchain.html#compilers
  • debian-stretch (EOL, GCC 6.3), fedora-{26,27,28} (GCC < 8): Drop
  • ubuntu-bionic and linuxmint-19.x: Default gcc is gcc-7, but a gcc-8 package is available, providing /usr/bin/gcc-8 but not /usr/bin/gcc. Replace platform by ubuntu-bionic-gcc_8 (to be defined)
  • opensuse-15.0: Default gcc is gcc7, but a package gcc8 is available, which provides /usr/bin/gcc-8 but not /usr/bin/gcc. Replace with opensuse-15.0-gcc_8
  • opensuse-15.3, -15.4: Default gcc is gcc7, but packages gcc8, gcc9, gcc10, gcc11 are available. Replace platforms by opensuse-15.{3,4}-gcc_11

Sage 10.0:

• No platforms dropped.
• New platforms: Support GCC 13 (fedora-38) #35092

Sage 10.1:

• New platforms: CI Linux: Update platforms #35660, tox.ini, .github/workflows/docker.yml: Add almalinux #35794
• tox.ini / GH Actions: Remove gentoo-python3.9 #35705

Sage 10.2:

• Drop support for GCC < 8.4, drop testing of debian-buster and fedora-29 #35810: NumPy 1.25.x needs GCC >= 8.4; this refers to but is stricter than the published SciPy toolchain roadmap (as of 2023-05-06).
  • debian-buster (LTS until 2024-06) only has GCC 8.3: Drop. Replace tested platform debian-buster-i386 by debian-bullseye-i386.
  • ubutu-bionic-gcc_8-python3.8 has GCC 8.4, so ok.
  • opensuse-15.0-gcc_8 only has GCC 8.2.1: Drop.
  • opensuse-15.1 and newer have gcc9, gcc10 packages or newer; check if we need to replace currently tested opensuse-15.3 by opensuse-15.3-gcc_10.
  • linuxmint-19.1-gcc_8 has GCC 8.4, so OK.
  • fedora-29 (long past EOL) only has GCC 8.3.1: Drop.
  • centos-stream-8 has GCC 8.5, ok.
• Drop support for Python 3.8 #35404 (prereq for SciPy 1.11.x)
• Fix bootstrapping on centos-7, fedora-30, ubuntu-xenial #36476

Sage 10.3

• Remove Cygwin support (https://groups.google.com/g/sage-devel/c/IusqNb9FqnQ): Remove Cygwin distro support #36778, Remove the pycygwin package #36779
• configure.ac: Remove tests for outdated platforms #36915

Sage 10.4

• Remove ubuntu-trusty (EOL 2024-04), opensuse-{15.3,15.4} (past EOL) - CI: Update Linux platforms / runners, remove ubuntu-trusty, opensuse-{15.3,15.4} #37351
• gcc, gfortran: Update to 13.2.0; remove debian-buster-gcc_spkg from CI #38008 (debian-buster LTS until 2024-06)
• tox.ini, .github/workflows, .devcontainer: Remove centos-stream-8 (EOL) #38179 (EOL 2024-05)

Sage 10.5

• CI: Remove centos-7 #38380 (EOL 2024-06)

Sage 10.x:

• Drop support for system Python on debian-bullseye (end of standard support 2024-08), ubuntu-focal (end of standard support 2025-04) - build/pkgs/python3 3.13.0rc1, require Python >= 3.10, numpy 2.1.1, scipy 1.14.1, pillow 10.4.0, cffi 1.17.0, networkx 3.3, sphinx 8, ipython 8.26 #37006
• Use and require C++17 instead of C++11 (in distro + sagelib) #37906
• sage-bootstrap: Drop support for Python 2, < 3.5; port sagemath-environment to Python >= 3.5 #35858
• Proposed: Drop support for optional packages on Linux 32bit – SPKG that only build executables or data: Replace spkg-install by conda #35583 / Install some dummy and optional packages using conda-forge (micromamba) #35585

CC: @mkoeppe

Component: build

Issue created by migration from https://trac.sagemath.org/ticket/32074

[sheerluck]

comment:1

gentoo-python3.7 is outdated too since Michał Górny disabled python3.7 in Gentoo several weeks ago :(

[mkoeppe]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -4,3 +4,6 @@
 
 * mint 17 (over 2 years since EOL)
 * ubuntu trusty (free support ended, full EOL in April 2022)
+
+Previous tickets:
+- #31526 (Drop support for optional packages with system gcc 4.x on `ubuntu-trusty`, `debian-jessie`, `linuxmint-17`, `centos-7`)

[dimpase]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 * mint 17 (over 2 years since EOL)
 * ubuntu trusty (free support ended, full EOL in April 2022)
+* debian 8 (jessie) and [earlier](https://www.debian.org/releases) jessie is on extended LTS (commercial)
+* fedora 32 and [earlier](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/End_of_life)
 
 Previous tickets:
 - #31526 (Drop support for optional packages with system gcc 4.x on `ubuntu-trusty`, `debian-jessie`, `linuxmint-17`, `centos-7`)

[dimpase]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 * mint 17 (over 2 years since EOL)
 * ubuntu trusty (free support ended, full EOL in April 2022)
-* debian 8 (jessie) and [earlier](https://www.debian.org/releases) jessie is on extended LTS (commercial)
+* debian 8 (jessie) and [earlier](https://www.debian.org/releases) jessie is on [extended LTS](https://wiki.debian.org/LTS/Extended) (commercial, separate from Debian, till June 2022)
 * fedora 32 and [earlier](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/End_of_life)
 
 Previous tickets:

[dimpase]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 in particular, CI is running tests on post-EOL distros.
 
-immediate suspects for removal
+immediate OS suspects for removal
 
 * mint 17 (over 2 years since EOL)
 * ubuntu trusty (free support ended, full EOL in April 2022)
 * debian 8 (jessie) and [earlier](https://www.debian.org/releases) jessie is on [extended LTS](https://wiki.debian.org/LTS/Extended) (commercial, separate from Debian, till June 2022)
 * fedora 32 and [earlier](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/End_of_life)
 
+immediate tools etc suspects for removal
+
+* gcc 6 and older (no longer supported)
 Previous tickets:
 - #31526 (Drop support for optional packages with system gcc 4.x on `ubuntu-trusty`, `debian-jessie`, `linuxmint-17`, `centos-7`)

[DaveWitteMorris]

comment:6

I don't know anything about the build system, so maybe this is noise, but regarding the problem with __builtin_smull_overflow at #31694 and #31585 ...

I think __builtin_smull_overflow was introduced in gcc 5 and clang 3.4, so I thought it was safe to use. (I think avoiding it would make the code both more complicated and less efficient.)

In the link to the debian jessie run, I see "Unpacking gcc-4.9 (4.9.2-10+deb8u2)" and "Unpacking g++-4.9 (4.9.2-10+deb8u2)". If this means it is using gcc 4.9, then that would explain the problem. I thought support for gcc 4.9 was dropped in #31526, which means we should not be worrying about this, but I guess I hadn't read it carefully, because it seems to only allow optional packages to drop support for 4.x. Is the problem with ubuntu trusty also from using gcc 4.x?

I don't think I should have much of a say, but I am certainly +1 on dropping support for gcc 4.x entirely. That is a really old compiler.

[jhpalmieri]

comment:7

What about Mac OS? I've seen a claim that Apple officially supports the three most recent versions of the OS — currently 10.14, 10.15, and 11 — and (for example) Mac OS 10.11 became unsupported in August 2018, 10.12 in November 2019, 10.13 in November 2020. I don't know what impact dropping support for 10.11 would have on Sage, but I think I saw a recent post in sage-devel or sage-support from someone struggling to install Sage on this OS.

[mkoeppe]

comment:8

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-github-hosted-runners/about-github-hosted-runners only has Catalina and Big Sur. So these systems are the only ones that are systematically tested.

These are also the only versions that we claim to support (for building Sage from source) in https://wiki.sagemath.org/ReleaseTours/sage-9.3#Availability_of_Sage_9.3_and_installation_help

Without infrastructure for testing, I would be reluctant to make any claims regarding support for older OS releases.

Travis CI does support a wider range of macOS releases, keyed to XCode versions - https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/reference/osx/#macos-version, going back to OS X 10.11. I used to have a workflow on Travis CI to run some superficial tests on a built binary distribution on older macOS versions (see #31133). But there seemed to be little interest in this at the time, and I have not updated these scripts.

Marc Culler appears to be testing his new binary distribution on some older macOS versions.

[dimpase]

comment:9

I think Apple is supporting 3 macOS releases, including the current, 11. This makes everything older than macOS 10.14 obsolete.

[dimpase]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 * ubuntu trusty (free support ended, full EOL in April 2022)
 * debian 8 (jessie) and [earlier](https://www.debian.org/releases) jessie is on [extended LTS](https://wiki.debian.org/LTS/Extended) (commercial, separate from Debian, till June 2022)
 * fedora 32 and [earlier](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/End_of_life)
+* macOS 10.13 and earlier
 
 immediate tools etc suspects for removal
 

[mkoeppe]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -11,5 +11,12 @@
 immediate tools etc suspects for removal
 
 * gcc 6 and older (no longer supported)
-Previous tickets:
+
+Tickets:
+
 - #31526 (Drop support for optional packages with system gcc 4.x on `ubuntu-trusty`, `debian-jessie`, `linuxmint-17`, `centos-7`)
+- #32281: `{ubuntu-trusty,linuxmint-17}-gcc_spkg`: `numpy`, `ntl`, `nauty`, ... fail to build
+- #31907: sage_bootstrap.download` fails to download from pypi.io
+- #32405 `sage-bootstrap-python`: Reject ancient pythons that do not support SNI
+- #32515 `linuxmint-17`, `ubuntu-trusty`: `scipy` build error with `pybind11`
+

[mkoeppe]

Description changed:

--- 
+++ 
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@
 - #31907: sage_bootstrap.download` fails to download from pypi.io
 - #32405 `sage-bootstrap-python`: Reject ancient pythons that do not support SNI
 - #32515 `linuxmint-17`, `ubuntu-trusty`: `scipy` build error with `pybind11`
-
+- #32907 Update singular to 4.2.1p2 (required patching flint for `ubuntu-trusty`)