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[infra][CI] Deal with the sunset of macos-13 @ GHA by Sep 1, 2025 #137638
Description
So GH is dropping [1][2] native x86-64 (intel) macOS runners for FOSS by getting rid of the macos-13 VM. The CPython's CI is using it for builds in forks (and the upstream is relying on the Cirrus-provided image instead).
This is a tracking issue for figuring out how to best handle it before it starts causing disruption: brownouts will begin on Sep 1 (bringing flakiness into the CI runs in forks for the following 2.5 months), and the image will be gone completely on Nov 14.
Linked PRs
- gh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions #137989
- [3.13] gh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions #138000
- [3.12] gh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions #138001
- [3.11] gh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions #138002
- gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions #139154
- [3.14] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) #139545
- [3.10] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) #139786
- [3.13] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) #139790
- [3.12] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) #139791
- [3.11] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) #139794
Activity
hugovk commentedon Aug 11, 2025
Apple support:
One option is to find another runner host. Cirrus dropped Intel in December 2022. CircleCI dropped Intel in June 2024. Are there any vendors offering Intel?
It could be self-hosted, but GitHub says they "recommend that you only use self-hosted runners with private repositories".
This doesn't look promising given GitHub, Cirrus and CircleCI have/are dropping Intel.
Another option is to drop Intel from GitHub Actions, which means they're no longer tier 1. We do have x86-64 macOS buildbots so they could remain tier 2. Tier 1 and 2 both block a release, we will just find out about the failure a bit later.
I thnk this would be the easiest in terms of CI maintenance. We need to keep the existing buildbot going. Some things would fail after merge, and we'd need to address them within 24 hours. Releases are still blocked if Intel fails, users should still be able to use Intel.
A third option is to build and test using Rosetta2, to run Intel binaries on Apple Silicon. This will be supported for macOS 26 (~Oct 2025) and 27 (~Oct 2026), so until ~Oct 2029.
We'll have to evaluate this. @ned-deily can tell us more.
However, note GitHub's N-1 OS support policy means the image might be removed a few months before Oct 2029:
Looking at the last one, macOS 15 was released in September 2024,
macos-15was planned for GA in January 2025 and finally out in April 2025.macos-13is being removed between September-November 2025.If macOS 29 is released in October 2028, depending on how quickly
macos-29is GA, we may only have +6 months untilmacos-27is removed, so at most perhaps 7 months before October 2028.Anyway, that would be the tail end of Intel support, so I think it'd be okay to let it drop to tier 2, if not remove entirely.
Any other suggestions?
encukou commentedon Aug 11, 2025
Looks like if a champion doesn't show up to do a bunch of work for a moribund platform, dropping to Tier 2 is the way.
encukou commentedon Aug 12, 2025
The discussion would be better on Discourse. I opened a topic: https://discuss.python.org/t/dropping-intel-mac-to-tier-2/102100
gpshead commentedon Aug 15, 2025
python/peps#4548 proposed.
[3.13] pythongh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions
[3.12] pythongh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions
[3.11] pythongh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions
[3.11] gh-137638: Remove macos-13 from GitHub Actions (GH-138002)
gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (#139154)
pythongh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (pythonGH-139154)
[3.14] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) (#…
pythongh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (python#139154)
[3.12] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) (#…
[3.11] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) (#…
[3.13] gh-137638: Use macos-15-intel in GitHub Actions (GH-139154) (#…