Related issues, PRs or discussions

None

What is the current state of the codebase?

We have been stuck on python 3.11 due to a bug in py2exe which is now fixed (context: #18449).
We should now be able to update safely to Python 3.13.

Note: Python 3.13 has limited support for Windows 8.1.
We will drop 8.1 support with this upgrade.
python/cpython#98383

Why are changes required?

We need to keep up with the latest python version for security and general reasons

What technical changes are required?

Updating dependencies and python version specifiers in the build system.

• Create dual 3.11/3.13 builds: Build with python 3.13 in parallel #18611
• Mark End of support for Windows 8.1 Support Windows 10 or later #18684
• Update server to not serve 2026.1+ to Win 8.1
• Switch default builds from 3.11 to 3.13 Update to Python 3.13 for 2026.1 #18689
• Update brlapi for 3.13, re-enable unit test for brlapi Update brlapi bindings to support Python 3.13 and X64 #18657
• Consider removing actions/setup-python@v5 from steps
• Update python in other scripts (e.g. crowdin scripts) Update to Python 3.13 for 2026.1 #18689

Are the proposed technical changes API breaking?

Yes

Are there potential risks or issues with the proposed implementation?

Yes, we should perform this early in the 2026.1 release cycle