Documentation: Corrections and clarifications for Python support (#6995)

* Clarifies Python version support and a rough policy of what versions are supported

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 4136b547e86d6916d8b9b36a667d12a489c6f75f..a7375000b694c92e7bcaff7e4e83b4bb4ca4a83f 100644 (file)
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ If you want to implement something big:
 
 ## Python
 
-Paperless supports python 3.9 - 3.11. We format Python code with [ruff](https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/formatter/).
+Paperless supports python 3.9 - 3.11 at this time. We format Python code with [ruff](https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/formatter/).
 
 ## Branches
 

diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index 969c293b16fd5ee6cc579a752ffb9878f086cb52..bc9ef4c2b0c55139f554a41aec2e8942fd67b0df 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -81,10 +81,6 @@ first-time setup.
     !!! note
 
         Using a virtual environment is highly recommended. You can spawn one via `pipenv shell`.
-        Make sure you're using Python 3.10.x or lower. Otherwise you might
-        get issues with building dependencies. You can use
-        [pyenv](https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv) to install a specific
-        Python version.
 
 5.  Install pre-commit hooks:
 

diff --git a/docs/setup.md b/docs/setup.md
index 19811e7c68c2b028802d251f4178892fb4182586..b0a0a5fedfb5eb3dcdda33185682396d234f44da 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/setup.md
+++ b/docs/setup.md
@@ -250,9 +250,14 @@ a minimal installation of Debian/Buster, which is the current stable
 release at the time of writing. Windows is not and will never be
 supported.
 
+Paperless requires Python 3. At this time, 3.9 - 3.11 are tested versions.
+Newer versions may work, but some dependencies may not fully support newer versions.
+Support for older Python versions may be dropped as they reach end of life or as newer versions
+are released, dependency support is confirmed, etc.
+
 1.  Install dependencies. Paperless requires the following packages.
 
-    - `python3` - 3.9 - 3.11 are supported
+    - `python3`
     - `python3-pip`
     - `python3-dev`
     - `default-libmysqlclient-dev` for MariaDB
@@ -410,8 +415,7 @@ supported.
     sudo chown paperless:paperless /opt/paperless/consume
     ```
 
-8.  Install python requirements from the `requirements.txt` file. It is
-    up to you if you wish to use a virtual environment or not. First you should update your pip, so it gets the actual packages.
+8.  Install python requirements from the `requirements.txt` file.
 
     ```shell-session
     sudo -Hu paperless pip3 install -r requirements.txt
@@ -420,6 +424,12 @@ supported.
     This will install all python dependencies in the home directory of
     the new paperless user.
 
+    !!! tip
+
+        It is up to you if you wish to use a virtual environment or not for the Python
+        dependencies.  This is an alternative to the above and may require adjusting
+        the example scripts to utilize the virtual environment paths
+
 9.  Go to `/opt/paperless/src`, and execute the following commands:
 
     ```bash