Drop support for Python 3.9 (February/May 2026)

[srittau]

Python 3.9 reached its end-of-life phase on 2025-10-31 (PEP 596).

How to remove support

February 2026

• [ ] Update the documentation.
• [ ] Update the oldest_supported_python key in pyproject.toml.
• [ ] Remove requires_python >= 3.10 and python_version >= 3.10 from METADATA.toml
• [ ] Remove 3.9 from CI and test scripts.
• [ ] Update stubtest allow lists. Also check whether items can be moved to the common allow lists.

May 2026

• [ ] Remove 3.9 exclusive branches from stubs.
• [ ] Remove obsolete stdlib modules (see VERSIONS).
  • _bootlocale
  • distutils.command.bdist_wininst
  • formatter
  • parser
  • symbol
• [ ] Replace typing_extensions imports.
  • ParamSpec
  • TypeAlias
  • TypeGuard
• [ ] Remove builtins.ellipsis after type checkers have switched to types.EllipsisType. (See #7580)
• [ ] Remove _reader/_writer workarounds in stdlib/_csv.pyi.

(Please amend as necessary.)