The current Python version (3.8) is very old

Support
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The current Python version supported by netlify is 3.8. The version 3.12 will be released already in a few months. 3.8 is the oldest still supported Python version, and it will reach EoL in the next year. Is there a reason to hold on to the old Python version?

Python 3.10+ is a must for my use case:

I use netlify to host Sphinx-powered documentation for my OSS projects. The issue is that I use the new style of type annotations (generics for built-in types and union operator) that require Python 3.10+. The project itself works on Python 3.8+ but Sphinx should be able to parse type annotations to properly render links to internal types in them. And it cannot be done on Python 3.8 or 3.9. I could rewrite all type annotations to the old style just for netlify but that’s not cool.

Prior discussions:

Documentation reference:

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So, I assume, the Netlify team doesn’t check the support forum, right? How to reach them then? There were GitHub issues to report issues with the build image but now the project is archived.

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That’s a good way to offend the hours we put here. Checking my own stats:

image
image1555Ă—305 21.3 KB

… and there are more of us doing almost the same thing. Maybe you went a bit off-track when making your assumptions.

But yes, we spend more hours in the helpdesk than forums, as we are supposed to provide responses to some customers that are paying (some are paying for the Pro and above plans just to get support). You might be one of those too, but there’s no guaranteed response times on the forums. So, we check here once most of our helpdesk queues are handled.

To answer your question, yes there are some technical limitations due to which we’re sticking on Python 3.8. Allowing newer versions would require a bigger engineering lift and that’s not something prioritised in the short-term. Seeing your question, I did ask out devs about the status, and it’s still “not planned in any short-term roadmap”.

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Thank you for your response! It took me a while but I managed to migrate my pages to an alternative solution that provides support for Python 3.11. Since there are no plans for modern Python support in Netlify, there is no workaround, and I solved my issue, I mark the topic as solved. If for anyone migrating from Netlify isn’t an option, please, make a new thread.

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For what it’s worth, this same issue has me considering leaving Netlify for another vendor.

I currently can’t build my Sphinx site with Netlify’s Python 3.8 version :expressionless:.

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Did something change with Netlify over the last week or two? I had a workaround that got me python 3.12:

brew install python3
PYTHON=$(brew --prefix python)/libexec/bin/python
$PYTHON -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

But sometime after Apr 7 this has begun to fail:

7:34:55 AM: + /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/opt/python@3.12/libexec/bin/python -m venv .venv
7:34:55 AM: Unable to symlink '/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12' to '/opt/build/repo/.tmp/ZQuestClassic/.venv/bin/python3.12'
7:34:58 AM: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/opt/build/repo/.tmp/ZQuestClassic/.venv/bin/Activate.ps1'
7:34:59 AM: Failed during stage 'building site': Build script returned non-zero exit code: 2 (https://ntl.fyi/exit-code-2)

Can Netlify commit to upgrading the default Python? If not, I must cancel my account.

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Hi there, another data point here to aid prioritisation - the author of the mkdocs-rss-plugin had to do work to retain support for Python 3.8 on top of a recent change they made to ensure Netlify continued to work. Min Python version to 3.10 is a problem for Netlify users · Issue #292 · Guts/mkdocs-rss-plugin · GitHub

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As of this week, Python 3.13 is stable and Python 3.8 is officially Unsupported.

Problems with getting Python tools to work on Netlify are only going to get worse from here, if the only supported versions on this platform remain 2.7 (unsupported since January 2020) and 3.8—which they are, according to Available software at build time | Netlify Docs.

It’s been over a year since the last official response in this thread (July 2023). Has anything changed regarding whether upgrading the available Python versions is “something prioritised in the short-term”?

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