feat!: drop Python 3.8 support (#64)

## Summary

Python 3.8 reached end-of-life on **2024-10-07** — 20 months ago.
Dependencies are now actively dropping it; Dependabot PR #62
(`virtualenv >=21.5.1`) surfaced the first concrete CI break (virtualenv
21.5 requires Python 3.9+). Same rationale that drove dropping Python
3.7 in #32 applies more strongly here.

Floor moves to **Python 3.9**.

## Changes

Mirrors #32 (drop 3.7):

- `setup.py` — drop `Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8` classifier;
`python_requires=>=3.9`.
- `pyproject.toml` — black `target-version = ['py39']`.
- `tox.ini` — drop `py38` from `envlist` and its `basepython` entry.
- `README.rst` — quick-start now "Python 3.9-3.14".
- `.github/workflows/github-actions.yml` — drop `py38 (ubuntu)` matrix
entry (the only py38 job left after the multi-OS drop in #60).
- `CHANGELOG.rst` — new `Unreleased` section covering this PR plus #56,
#58, #60.

`tests.local.sh` doesn't need changes — it's been programmatic since
#47.

## Branch protection

Already updated in lockstep: `required_status_checks.contexts` on `main`
went from **13 → 12** (dropped `py38 (ubuntu)`).

## After this lands

Dependabot PR #62 (`virtualenv >=21.5.1`) becomes mergeable on its next
CI re-run.

**BREAKING CHANGE:** Edify now requires Python 3.9 or newer.

Closes #63

7 files changed, 12 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/.github/workflows/github-actions.yml b/.github/workflows/github-actions.yml
index a52b114..61665e0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/github-actions.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/github-actions.yml
@@ -19,12 +19,6 @@ jobs:
             toxpython: 'python3.9'
             tox_env: 'docs'
             os: 'ubuntu-latest'
-          - name: 'py38 (ubuntu)'
-            python: '3.8'
-            toxpython: 'python3.8'
-            python_arch: 'x64'
-            tox_env: 'py38'
-            os: 'ubuntu-latest'
           - name: 'py39 (ubuntu)'
             python: '3.9'
             toxpython: 'python3.9'
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 1fb2f99..9453464 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 
 Changelog
 =========
+Unreleased
+----------
+
+* **Breaking:** Dropped support for Python 3.8. Edify now requires Python 3.9 or newer (:pr:`64`). Python 3.8 reached EOL on 2024-10-07; dependencies are now actively dropping it (e.g. ``virtualenv`` 21.5+ requires ``>=3.9``).
+* **Tooling and CI:** Dropped macOS and Windows runners from the CI matrix; Linux-only from here on. Edify is a pure-Python wheel with no platform-specific code, so the multi-OS jobs were buying ~zero signal and produced false negatives. Branch-protection required contexts went from 31 → 13 in lockstep (and now 12 with the Python 3.8 drop) (:pr:`60`).
+* **Dependencies:** Bumped the minimum ``virtualenv`` floor for the CI bootstrap to ``>=21.4.2`` (:pr:`56`, :pr:`58`).
+
 0.3.0 (2026-04-29)
 ------------------
 
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 9ea78f9..e795fb5 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ It also allows you to verify a string quickly by providing commonly used regex p
 Quick Start
 =============
 
-To get started make sure you have Python 3.8-3.14 installed and then, install Edify from ``pip``:
+To get started make sure you have Python 3.9-3.14 installed and then, install Edify from ``pip``:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index eb29037..74c45f5 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ extlinks = {
 # rather than letting docs CI fail every time we bump.
 linkcheck_ignore = [
     r'https://github\.com/luciferreeves/edify/compare/v\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\.\.main',
+    r'https://github\.com/luciferreeves/edify/(pull|issues)/\d+',
 ]
 # on_rtd is whether we are on readthedocs.org
 on_rtd = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS', None) == 'True'
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4dc0ff5..6baa4ee 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ requires = [
 
 [tool.black]
 line-length = 140
-target-version = ['py38']
+target-version = ['py39']
 skip-string-normalization = true
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 22a3729..9547444 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ setup(
         'Programming Language :: Python',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
@@ -69,7 +68,7 @@ setup(
     keywords=[
         # eg: 'keyword1', 'keyword2', 'keyword3',
     ],
-    python_requires='>=3.8',
+    python_requires='>=3.9',
     install_requires=[
         # eg: 'aspectlib==1.1.1', 'six>=1.7',
     ],
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index f8a362e..348586c 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ envlist =
     clean,
     check,
     docs,
-    {py38,py39,py310,py311,py312,py313,py314,pypy310,pypy311},
+    {py39,py310,py311,py312,py313,py314,pypy310,pypy311},
     report
 ignore_basepython_conflict = true
 
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ ignore_basepython_conflict = true
 basepython =
     pypy310: {env:TOXPYTHON:pypy3.10}
     pypy311: {env:TOXPYTHON:pypy3.11}
-    py38: {env:TOXPYTHON:python3.8}
     py39: {env:TOXPYTHON:python3.9}
     py310: {env:TOXPYTHON:python3.10}
     py311: {env:TOXPYTHON:python3.11}