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Versioning question: Is dropping support for an older version of a programming language a major or minor change? I.e. version 2.5 of my software supported Python 3.8-3.12, the next version supports only 3.10-3.12 (but no API/functional changes). What kind of version bump would you expect?
@anteru Wouldn't it be the same as the python version change?
Like if that is fully backward compatible it's a minor, otherwise a major bump?
@micha For you as a user the application itself looks and feels the same. A 2.6 bump feels like something actually changed for everyone, but the reality is for a Python 3.10 user nothing changes. I just can't easily decouple from Python itself; unlike let's say a compiled program where I wouldn't bump the minor version when going from Visual Studio 2019 to 2022 for example (why would you care?) Python has behavioral changes (deprecations, etc.) when they bump minor version numbers.
@anteru now I'm really confused, sorry. I was trying to make a point for a minor version bump. The same as the python version change but I read your last reply as you think I'm arguing for a major version?
@micha No, I read your reply that way, I was trying to explain why _I_ was arguing for patch release :)
@anteru thx, I think I understand now why all options are applicable.
My previous argument was assuming that python is bundled (like Blender does) and the newer version adds to the API. Then it would be a minor bump.
But you are using the system python, right?
And if people already used the newer version before, it's a patch for those.
However, for those with the older python version installed, which gets dropped, it's a major change.
Would bundling python be an option for the future?
@micha I'm using the system Python, yes. Bundling - not so sure. There's PyInstaller but it's fairly unusual to use that over shipping things as Python modules, especially as Python's ecosystem does encourage creating a virtual environment and installing your stuff there (also, it's a huge installation and/or overhead over a "plain" Python script.)
@anteru ah sorry again, I didn't get that the whole application is written in Python. Then bundling the interpreter doesn't make much sense but the patch version bump does I guess. 