On Wed, 2025-09-03 at 16:57 +0200, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote: > There are actually 3 different issues that depend on python version: > > 1. sphinx-pre-install: > > This used to be a Perl script. The goal is to check if sphinx-build > is installed and works, and identify missing dependencies. > > The problem is: if one installs python3xx-Sphinx, instead of > python3-Sphinx, the script will fail, except if it first switches > to python3.xx; So let it fail. Fail is fine, at least it's a clear signal. The python3- Spinx package will anyway be a sort of meta-package that's basically empty and depends on a specific version. > 2. sphinx-build logic inside makefile, required for doc-specific targets: > > - If python < 3.7, doc builds fail; Fine, python 3.7 is really old by now, if you actually have python3==3.7 you probably have other problems anyway. I don't think we need to support that. > - If python3xx-Sphinx is installed, build only works if started using > the right python3.xx exec Yeah, but again, we can require python3-sphinx here. > Now, for (1) and (2), it should be possible to allow building docs even > if the distro requires Python < 3.7, providing extra packages for newer > Python, as almost all distros do. See, several distros require python > on their minimal install images, because it can be using during package > install. Removing the default python replacing by a new version may break > the system, as the newer version may not be backward-compatible. Umm, no? I'm not sure there's a need to cater to truly ancient software in today's kernel build environment. Even debian *oldoldstable* has python3==3.9: https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/python3 > The best alternative seems to check if: > > - python version is bellow the minimal supported version; > - there is a newer python binary at PATH; > - check if sphinx-build runs with the newest version. > > If all those 3 conditions are met, build docs with a version that works, > printing a message to tell the user what Python binary was used. I still disagree. The only predictable thing is to use "python3" and associated python3-xyz tools, and let things fail if those versions are too old. Picking a random different version that will depend on the kernel version etc. is just going to introduce more moving parts and will eventually be painful. johannes
