feat!: drop Python 3.8 support

Python 3.8 reached end-of-life on 2024-10-07. Dependencies are now
actively dropping it — Dependabot PR #62 surfaced the first concrete
instance (virtualenv 21.5+ requires Python 3.9+, breaking the py38
CI job). Same rationale that drove dropping Python 3.7 in #32
applies more strongly here.

- setup.py: drop the 3.8 classifier; bump python_requires to >=3.9
- pyproject.toml: bump black target-version to py39
- tox.ini: drop py38 env and basepython entry
- README.rst: bump quick-start to 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: add Unreleased section covering this PR, #60, #56,
  and #58

Branch protection on main was updated in lockstep — required
contexts dropped from 13 to 12.

BREAKING CHANGE: Edify now requires Python 3.9 or newer.

Closes #63

6 files changed, 22 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..baf7c6f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,24 @@
 
 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/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}