Python 3.6 Support

[tdenewiler]

Python 3.6 support will end in December 2021. At that time we plan to create a tag named something like python3.6-final and remove support in Statick for Python 3.6. The first step will be to remove it from our testing environments. After that we may make changes that break Statick operation in a Python 3.6 environment. We will tag as many of the plugin repositories as we can at the same time so that the group of open source Statick plugins will have a final working version for Python 3.6. We plan to create releases to PyPI at the same time so that Python 3.6 users can use pinned versions if needed.

I expect this work to take place in December 2021.

[tdenewiler]

This would be a good time to see if there are any new features for Python 3.7 that we want to use in the Statick code base.

https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.7.html

[tdenewiler]

Github Actions recently made macos-latest point to macos-11 instead of macos-10.15. In macos-11 there is no Python 3.6. Statick and some (all?) of the plugins that run Actions were using macos-latest. As there is still a desire for Statick to support Python 3.6 until EOL in December 2021 we are switching Actions to use macos-10.15. When Python 3.6 support is dropped in Statick we should remember to go back and update Actions to use macos-latest again.

[tdenewiler]

Python 3.6 will be end-of-life on 23 December 2021.

https://endoflife.date/python

[tdenewiler]

Instead of creating a tag named python3.6-final we are creating a new tag with a patch upgrade for the final Python 3.6 release. After dropping Python 3.6 support we will create a new release and increment the minor version. This will allow users to pin a Statick requirement to the minor version with Python 3.6 support if they need it.

For example, the last release in the main Statick repository that will support Python 3.6 is 0.6.3. After we drop Python 3.6 support a new release will be created at 0.7.0. Users needing Python 3.6 support can do something like the following.

pip install statick<=0.6

There are no plans to add new features to the 0.6 series, but this approach leaves that possibility open. If a bug is discovered we could apply it to the main branch and follow our normal release processes. If the changes are not too big we could (in theory) make a new branch off of the 0.6.3 branch, apply the bug fix, and make a 0.6.4 release. Depending on the maintenance burden, there are no promises this will happen, but it's always nice to have options.

[tdenewiler]

This idea has been completed. New minor versions of all repositories that drop Python 3.6 support have been tagged and published to PyPI.