Drop support for python 3.8.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
-        python: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12']
+        python: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12']
         include:
-          - python: '3.8'
+          - python: '3.9'
             run_lint: true
           - python: '3.12'
             run_doc: true

README.rst

@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ Common features
 * support all standard frames: socket, rtu, rtu-over-tcp, tcp and ascii
 * does not have third party dependencies, apart from pyserial (optional)
 * very lightweight project
-* requires Python >= 3.8
+* requires Python >= 3.9
 * thorough test suite, that test all corners of the library
-* automatically tested on Windows, Linux and MacOS combined with python 3.8 - 3.12
+* automatically tested on Windows, Linux and MacOS combined with python 3.9 - 3.12
 * strongly typed API (py.typed present)
 
 The modbus protocol specification: Modbus_Application_Protocol_V1_1b3.pdf can be found on
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ There are 2 bigger projects ongoing:
 
 Development instructions
 ------------------------
-The current code base is compatible with python >= 3.8.
+The current code base is compatible with python >= 3.9.
 
 Here are some of the common commands to perform a range of activities::
 

examples/contrib/explain.py

@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 """
 How to explain pymodbus logs using https://rapidscada.net/modbus/ and requests.
-
-Created on 7/19/2023 to support Python 3.8 to 3.11 on macOS, Ubuntu, or Windows.
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
 

pyproject.toml

@@ -22,15 +22,15 @@ classifiers = [
     "Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X",
     "Operating System :: OS Independent",
     "Operating System :: Microsoft",
-    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
     "Topic :: System :: Networking",
     "Topic :: Utilities",
 ]
-requires-python = ">=3.8.0"
+requires-python = ">=3.9.0"
 
 [project.urls]
 Homepage = "https://github.com/pymodbus-dev/pymodbus/"
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ load-plugins = [
     "pylint.extensions.typing"
 ]
 jobs = "0"
-py-version = "3.8"
+py-version = "3.9"
 
 [tool.pylint.messages_control]
 enable = "all"