Python 3.9.2 cannot run on windows 7

[wasphin]

In commit f9763b7, python upgraded to 3.9.2, which does not work under Windows 7, this make all ports which require python fail to build.

So does Windows 7 still the supported OS as the README said?

Prerequisites:

• Windows 7 or newer

[NancyLi1013]

Hi @wasphin

Thanks for posting this issue.

Since Python 3.9 has dropped support of Windows 7. So you cannot run Python 3.9.2 on Windows 7.

Please see the document here https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html#

For the description in README:

Prerequisites:

Windows 7 or newer

Most ports support Windows 7, currently only those ports requiring Python 3 cannot work on Windows 7.

[wasphin]

Some ports like harfbuzz only required python to run build tools, the version of python may not matter much, this kind of build failure is irrational. An option to use extern tools may be useful.

By now, I just make a link from python 3.8.8 to 3.9.2 to work around this.

mklink /J python-3.9.2-x86 python-3.8.8-x86 

Most ports support Windows 7, currently only those ports requiring Python 3 cannot work on Windows 7.

Maybe we can make this more clear in the README?

[NancyLi1013]

Hi @wasphin

Thanks for your details. Since someone has added a feature deprecated-win7-support for python3 to support python 3.9 on Windows 7. Please see #16420

In this case, users can still use python3 on Windows 7 via python3[deprecated-win7-support].

[wasphin]

Hi, @NancyLi1013

Thanks for the information, python3[deprecated-win7-support] has been successfully built under windows 7, but how to use the python3[deprecated-win7-support] to build harfbuzz in my case? If I understand right, python3[deprecated-win7-support] just build python 3.9.2, which can work under windows 7.

I think the title may have misled others, what I want is not to make python 3.9.2 worked under windows 7, but to build ports(e.g. harfbuzz) those do not require python 3.9.2.

[NancyLi1013]

Hi @wasphin

Sorry for the long delay. It seems harfbuzz has no dependency of python3. So I don't know what your concern is. For the ports that depend on python3, if you want to build it on Windows 7, you should build python3[deprecated-win7-support] first. Then build the port.

If the ports that don't require python3, whether they can be built on Windows 7 is related with the ports themselves instead of python3.

[wasphin]

Hi @NancyLi1013

It seems harfbuzz has no dependency of python3.

harfbuzz dependents on meson which in turn dependents on python3. So any version of python that can run meson should work for building harfbuzz. The version of python3 does not have to be the latest, which is not compatible with Windows 7.

[nabijaczleweli]

(a) why are you atting me and (b) stop using Windows 7

[wasphin]

(a) why are you atting me and

Sorry for that.

[JackBoosY]

We hope your question was answered to your satisfaction; if it wasn't, you can reopen with more info.

[JackBoosY]

Close this PR since #16420 merged.