Python 2 removal part 1: tests (C++ code is intentionally ~untouched) (#3688)

* `#error BYE_BYE_GOLDEN_SNAKE`

* Removing everything related to 2.7 from ci.yml

* Commenting-out Centos7

* Removing `PYTHON: 27` from .appveyor.yml

* "PY2" removal, mainly from tests. C++ code is not touched.

* Systematic removal of `u` prefix from `u"..."` and `u'...'` literals. Collateral cleanup of a couple minor other things.

* Cleaning up around case-insensitive hits for `[^a-z]py.*2` in tests/.

* Removing obsolete Python 2 mention in compiling.rst

* Proper `#error` for Python 2.

* Using PY_VERSION_HEX to guard `#error "PYTHON 2 IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED.`

* chore: bump pre-commit

* style: run pre-commit for pyupgrade 3+

* tests: use sys.version_info, not PY

* chore: more Python 2 removal

* Uncommenting Centos7 block (PR #3691 showed that it is working again).

* Update pre-commit hooks

* Fix pre-commit hook

* refactor: remove Python 2 from CMake

* refactor: remove Python 2 from setup code

* refactor: simplify, better static typing

* feat: fail with nice messages

* refactor: drop Python 2 C++ code

* docs: cleanup for Python 3

* revert: intree

revert: intree

* docs: minor touchup to py2 statement
Co-authored-by: Henry Schreiner <henryschreineriii@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Aaron Gokaslan <skylion.aaron@gmail.com>

.appveyor.yml

@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ environment:
   matrix:
   - PYTHON: 36
     CONFIG: Debug
-  - PYTHON: 27
-    CONFIG: Debug
 install:
 - ps: |
     $env:CMAKE_GENERATOR = "Visual Studio 14 2015"

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         runs-on: [ubuntu-latest, windows-2022, macos-latest]
         python:
-        - '2.7'
         - '3.5'
         - '3.6'
         - '3.9'
@@ -49,13 +48,9 @@ jobs:
             python: '3.6'
             args: >
               -DPYBIND11_FINDPYTHON=ON
-          - runs-on: macos-latest
-            python: 'pypy-2.7'
           # Inject a couple Windows 2019 runs
           - runs-on: windows-2019
             python: '3.9'
-          - runs-on: windows-2019
-            python: '2.7'
 
     name: "🐍 ${{ matrix.python }} • ${{ matrix.runs-on }} • x64 ${{ matrix.args }}"
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.runs-on }}
@@ -168,22 +163,6 @@ jobs:
     - name: Interface test
       run: cmake --build build2 --target test_cmake_build
 
-    # Eventually Microsoft might have an action for setting up
-    # MSVC, but for now, this action works:
-    - name: Prepare compiler environment for Windows 🐍 2.7
-      if: matrix.python == 2.7 && runner.os == 'Windows'
-      uses: ilammy/msvc-dev-cmd@v1.10.0
-      with:
-        arch: x64
-
-    # This makes two environment variables available in the following step(s)
-    - name: Set Windows 🐍 2.7 environment variables
-      if: matrix.python == 2.7 && runner.os == 'Windows'
-      shell: bash
-      run: |
-        echo "DISTUTILS_USE_SDK=1" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-        echo "MSSdk=1" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-
     # This makes sure the setup_helpers module can build packages using
     # setuptools
     - name: Setuptools helpers test
@@ -784,7 +763,6 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         python:
-          - 2.7
           - 3.6
           - 3.7
           # todo: check/cpptest does not support 3.8+ yet
@@ -832,17 +810,12 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         python:
-          - 2.7
           - 3.5
           - 3.7
         std:
           - 14
 
         include:
-          - python: 2.7
-            std: 17
-            args: >
-              -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="/permissive- /EHsc /GR"
           - python: 3.7
             std: 17
             args: >

.github/workflows/pip.yml

@@ -17,19 +17,19 @@ env:
 
 jobs:
   # This builds the sdists and wheels and makes sure the files are exactly as
-  # expected. Using Windows and Python 2.7, since that is often the most
+  # expected. Using Windows and Python 3.6, since that is often the most
   # challenging matrix element.
   test-packaging:
-    name: 🐍 2.7 • 📦 tests • windows-latest
+    name: 🐍 3.6 • 📦 tests • windows-latest
     runs-on: windows-latest
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
-    - name: Setup 🐍 2.7
+    - name: Setup 🐍 3.6
       uses: actions/setup-python@v2
       with:
-        python-version: 2.7
+        python-version: 3.6
 
     - name: Prepare env
       run: |

.pre-commit-config.yaml

@@ -29,14 +29,15 @@ repos:
   - id: mixed-line-ending
   - id: requirements-txt-fixer
   - id: trailing-whitespace
-  - id: fix-encoding-pragma
-    exclude: ^noxfile.py$
 
+# Upgrade old Python syntax
 - repo: https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade
   rev: v2.31.0
   hooks:
   - id: pyupgrade
+    args: [--py3-plus]
 
+# Nicely sort includes
 - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/isort
   rev: 5.10.1
   hooks:
@@ -44,20 +45,21 @@ repos:
 
 # Black, the code formatter, natively supports pre-commit
 - repo: https://github.com/psf/black
-  rev: 21.12b0 # Keep in sync with blacken-docs
+  rev: 22.1.0 # Keep in sync with blacken-docs
   hooks:
   - id: black
 
+# Also code format the docs
 - repo: https://github.com/asottile/blacken-docs
-  rev: v1.12.0
+  rev: v1.12.1
   hooks:
   - id: blacken-docs
     additional_dependencies:
-    - black==21.12b0 # keep in sync with black hook
+    - black==22.1.0 # keep in sync with black hook
 
 # Changes tabs to spaces
 - repo: https://github.com/Lucas-C/pre-commit-hooks
-  rev: v1.1.10
+  rev: v1.1.11
   hooks:
   - id: remove-tabs
 
@@ -67,12 +69,15 @@ repos:
   hooks:
   - id: pycln
 
+# Checking for common mistakes
 - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pygrep-hooks
   rev: v1.9.0
   hooks:
   - id: python-check-blanket-noqa
   - id: python-check-blanket-type-ignore
   - id: python-no-log-warn
+  # Python 3.6
+  # - id: python-use-type-annotations
   - id: rst-backticks
   - id: rst-directive-colons
   - id: rst-inline-touching-normal
@@ -87,6 +92,7 @@ repos:
       - pep8-naming
     exclude: ^(docs/.*|tools/.*)$
 
+# Automatically remove noqa that are not used
 - repo: https://github.com/asottile/yesqa
   rev: v1.3.0
   hooks:
@@ -107,9 +113,9 @@ repos:
   rev: v0.931
   hooks:
   - id: mypy
-    # Running per-file misbehaves a bit, so just run on all files, it's fast
-    pass_filenames: false
-    additional_dependencies: [typed_ast]
+    args: [--show-error-codes]
+    exclude: ^(tests|docs)/
+    additional_dependencies: [nox, rich]
 
 # Checks the manifest for missing files (native support)
 - repo: https://github.com/mgedmin/check-manifest
@@ -120,6 +126,7 @@ repos:
     stages: [manual]
     additional_dependencies: [cmake, ninja]
 
+# Check for spelling
 - repo: https://github.com/codespell-project/codespell
   rev: v2.1.0
   hooks:
@@ -127,20 +134,22 @@ repos:
     exclude: ".supp$"
     args: ["-L", "nd,ot,thist"]
 
+# Check for common shell mistakes
 - repo: https://github.com/shellcheck-py/shellcheck-py
-  rev: v0.8.0.3
+  rev: v0.8.0.4
   hooks:
   - id: shellcheck
 
-# The original pybind11 checks for a few C++ style items
+# Disallow some common capitalization mistakes
 - repo: local
   hooks:
   - id: disallow-caps
     name: Disallow improper capitalization
     language: pygrep
     entry: PyBind|Numpy|Cmake|CCache|PyTest
-    exclude: .pre-commit-config.yaml
+    exclude: ^\.pre-commit-config.yaml$
 
+# Clang format the codebase automatically
 - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-clang-format
   rev: "v13.0.0"
   hooks:

MANIFEST.in

 recursive-include pybind11/include/pybind11 *.h
 recursive-include pybind11 *.py
 recursive-include pybind11 py.typed
-recursive-include pybind11 *.pyi
 include pybind11/share/cmake/pybind11/*.cmake
 include LICENSE README.rst pyproject.toml setup.py setup.cfg

README.rst

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ dependency.
 Think of this library as a tiny self-contained version of Boost.Python
 with everything stripped away that isn’t relevant for binding
 generation. Without comments, the core header files only require ~4K
-lines of code and depend on Python (2.7 or 3.5+, or PyPy) and the C++
+lines of code and depend on Python (3.5+, or PyPy) and the C++
 standard library. This compact implementation was possible thanks to
 some of the new C++11 language features (specifically: tuples, lambda
 functions and variadic templates). Since its creation, this library has
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ Goodies
 In addition to the core functionality, pybind11 provides some extra
 goodies:
 
-- Python 2.7, 3.5+, and PyPy/PyPy3 7.3 are supported with an
-  implementation-agnostic interface.
+- Python 3.5+, and PyPy3 7.3 are supported with an implementation-agnostic
+  interface (pybind11 2.9 was the last version to support Python 2).
 
 - It is possible to bind C++11 lambda functions with captured
   variables. The lambda capture data is stored inside the resulting

docs/Doxyfile

@@ -18,5 +18,4 @@ ALIASES               += "endrst=\endverbatim"
 QUIET                  = YES
 WARNINGS               = YES
 WARN_IF_UNDOCUMENTED   = NO
-PREDEFINED             = PY_MAJOR_VERSION=3 \
-                         PYBIND11_NOINLINE
+PREDEFINED             = PYBIND11_NOINLINE

docs/advanced/cast/strings.rst

 Strings, bytes and Unicode conversions
 ######################################
 
-.. note::
-
-    This section discusses string handling in terms of Python 3 strings. For
-    Python 2.7, replace all occurrences of ``str`` with ``unicode`` and
-    ``bytes`` with ``str``.  Python 2.7 users may find it best to use ``from
-    __future__ import unicode_literals`` to avoid unintentionally using ``str``
-    instead of ``unicode``.
-
 Passing Python strings to C++
 =============================
 
@@ -58,9 +50,9 @@ Passing bytes to C++
 --------------------
 
 A Python ``bytes`` object will be passed to C++ functions that accept
-``std::string`` or ``char*`` *without* conversion.  On Python 3, in order to
-make a function *only* accept ``bytes`` (and not ``str``), declare it as taking
-a ``py::bytes`` argument.
+``std::string`` or ``char*`` *without* conversion.  In order to make a function
+*only* accept ``bytes`` (and not ``str``), declare it as taking a ``py::bytes``
+argument.
 
 
 Returning C++ strings to Python
@@ -204,11 +196,6 @@ decoded to Python ``str``.
         }
     );
 
-.. warning::
-
-    Wide character strings may not work as described on Python 2.7 or Python
-    3.3 compiled with ``--enable-unicode=ucs2``.
-
 Strings in multibyte encodings such as Shift-JIS must transcoded to a
 UTF-8/16/32 before being returned to Python.
 

docs/advanced/classes.rst

@@ -133,14 +133,14 @@ a virtual method call.
     >>> from example import *
     >>> d = Dog()
     >>> call_go(d)
-    u'woof! woof! woof! '
+    'woof! woof! woof! '
     >>> class Cat(Animal):
     ...     def go(self, n_times):
     ...         return "meow! " * n_times
     ...
     >>> c = Cat()
     >>> call_go(c)
-    u'meow! meow! meow! '
+    'meow! meow! meow! '
 
 If you are defining a custom constructor in a derived Python class, you *must*
 ensure that you explicitly call the bound C++ constructor using ``__init__``,
@@ -813,26 +813,21 @@ An instance can now be pickled as follows:
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
-    try:
-        import cPickle as pickle  # Use cPickle on Python 2.7
-    except ImportError:
-        import pickle
+    import pickle
 
     p = Pickleable("test_value")
     p.setExtra(15)
-    data = pickle.dumps(p, 2)
+    data = pickle.dumps(p)
 
 
 .. note::
-    Note that only the cPickle module is supported on Python 2.7.
-
-    The second argument to ``dumps`` is also crucial: it selects the pickle
-    protocol version 2, since the older version 1 is not supported. Newer
-    versions are also fine—for instance, specify ``-1`` to always use the
-    latest available version. Beware: failure to follow these instructions
-    will cause important pybind11 memory allocation routines to be skipped
-    during unpickling, which will likely lead to memory corruption and/or
-    segmentation faults.
+    If given, the second argument to ``dumps`` must be 2 or larger - 0 and 1 are
+    not supported. Newer versions are also fine; for instance, specify ``-1`` to
+    always use the latest available version. Beware: failure to follow these
+    instructions will cause important pybind11 memory allocation routines to be
+    skipped during unpickling, which will likely lead to memory corruption
+    and/or segmentation faults. Python defaults to version 3 (Python 3-3.7) and
+    version 4 for Python 3.8+.
 
 .. seealso::
 
@@ -849,11 +844,9 @@ Python normally uses references in assignments. Sometimes a real copy is needed
 to prevent changing all copies. The ``copy`` module [#f5]_ provides these
 capabilities.
 
-On Python 3, a class with pickle support is automatically also (deep)copy
+A class with pickle support is automatically also (deep)copy
 compatible. However, performance can be improved by adding custom
-``__copy__`` and ``__deepcopy__`` methods. With Python 2.7, these custom methods
-are mandatory for (deep)copy compatibility, because pybind11 only supports
-cPickle.
+``__copy__`` and ``__deepcopy__`` methods.
 
 For simple classes (deep)copy can be enabled by using the copy constructor,
 which should look as follows:

docs/advanced/exceptions.rst

@@ -328,8 +328,8 @@ an invalid state.
 Chaining exceptions ('raise from')
 ==================================
 
-In Python 3.3 a mechanism for indicating that exceptions were caused by other
-exceptions was introduced:
+Python has a mechanism for indicating that exceptions were caused by other
+exceptions:
 
 .. code-block:: py
 
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ exceptions was introduced:
 
 To do a similar thing in pybind11, you can use the ``py::raise_from`` function. It
 sets the current python error indicator, so to continue propagating the exception
-you should ``throw py::error_already_set()`` (Python 3 only).
+you should ``throw py::error_already_set()``.
 
 .. code-block:: cpp
 

docs/advanced/pycpp/numpy.rst

@@ -398,8 +398,6 @@ Ellipsis
 Python 3 provides a convenient ``...`` ellipsis notation that is often used to
 slice multidimensional arrays. For instance, the following snippet extracts the
 middle dimensions of a tensor with the first and last index set to zero.
-In Python 2, the syntactic sugar ``...`` is not available, but the singleton
-``Ellipsis`` (of type ``ellipsis``) can still be used directly.
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
@@ -414,8 +412,6 @@ operation on the C++ side:
    py::array a = /* A NumPy array */;
    py::array b = a[py::make_tuple(0, py::ellipsis(), 0)];
 
-.. versionchanged:: 2.6
-   ``py::ellipsis()`` is now also available in Python 2.
 
 Memory view
 ===========
@@ -455,9 +451,5 @@ We can also use ``memoryview::from_memory`` for a simple 1D contiguous buffer:
         );
     })
 
-.. note::
-
-    ``memoryview::from_memory`` is not available in Python 2.
-
 .. versionchanged:: 2.6
     ``memoryview::from_memory`` added.

docs/basics.rst

@@ -166,12 +166,12 @@ load and execute the example:
 .. code-block:: pycon
 
     $ python
-    Python 2.7.10 (default, Aug 22 2015, 20:33:39)
-    [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 7.0.0 (clang-700.0.59.1)] on darwin
+    Python 3.9.10 (main, Jan 15 2022, 11:48:04)
+    [Clang 13.0.0 (clang-1300.0.29.3)] on darwin
     Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
     >>> import example
     >>> example.add(1, 2)
-    3L
+    3
     >>>
 
 .. _keyword_args:

docs/benchmark.py

-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 import datetime as dt
 import os
 import random
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ def generate_dummy_code_boost(nclasses=10):
 for codegen in [generate_dummy_code_pybind11, generate_dummy_code_boost]:
     print("{")
     for i in range(0, 10):
-        nclasses = 2 ** i
+        nclasses = 2**i
         with open("test.cpp", "w") as f:
             f.write(codegen(nclasses))
         n1 = dt.datetime.now()

docs/classes.rst

@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@ interactive Python session demonstrating this example is shown below:
     >>> print(p)
     <example.Pet object at 0x10cd98060>
     >>> p.getName()
-    u'Molly'
+    'Molly'
     >>> p.setName("Charly")
     >>> p.getName()
-    u'Charly'
+    'Charly'
 
 .. seealso::
 
@@ -124,10 +124,10 @@ This makes it possible to write
 
     >>> p = example.Pet("Molly")
     >>> p.name
-    u'Molly'
+    'Molly'
     >>> p.name = "Charly"
     >>> p.name
-    u'Charly'
+    'Charly'
 
 Now suppose that ``Pet::name`` was a private internal variable
 that can only be accessed via setters and getters.
@@ -282,9 +282,9 @@ expose fields and methods of both types:
 
     >>> p = example.Dog("Molly")
     >>> p.name
-    u'Molly'
+    'Molly'
     >>> p.bark()
-    u'woof!'
+    'woof!'
 
 The C++ classes defined above are regular non-polymorphic types with an
 inheritance relationship. This is reflected in Python:
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ will automatically recognize this:
     >>> type(p)
     PolymorphicDog  # automatically downcast
     >>> p.bark()
-    u'woof!'
+    'woof!'
 
 Given a pointer to a polymorphic base, pybind11 performs automatic downcasting
 to the actual derived type. Note that this goes beyond the usual situation in

docs/compiling.rst

@@ -462,11 +462,8 @@ available in all modes. The targets provided are:
    ``pybind11::headers``
      Just the pybind11 headers and minimum compile requirements
 
-   ``pybind11::python2_no_register``
-     Quiets the warning/error when mixing C++14 or higher and Python 2
-
    ``pybind11::pybind11``
-     Python headers + ``pybind11::headers`` + ``pybind11::python2_no_register`` (Python 2 only)
+     Python headers + ``pybind11::headers``
 
    ``pybind11::python_link_helper``
      Just the "linking" part of pybind11:module
@@ -577,21 +574,12 @@ On Linux, you can compile an example such as the one given in
 
     $ c++ -O3 -Wall -shared -std=c++11 -fPIC $(python3 -m pybind11 --includes) example.cpp -o example$(python3-config --extension-suffix)
 
-The flags given here assume that you're using Python 3. For Python 2, just
-change the executable appropriately (to ``python`` or ``python2``).
-
 The ``python3 -m pybind11 --includes`` command fetches the include paths for
 both pybind11 and Python headers. This assumes that pybind11 has been installed
 using ``pip`` or ``conda``. If it hasn't, you can also manually specify
 ``-I <path-to-pybind11>/include`` together with the Python includes path
 ``python3-config --includes``.
 
-Note that Python 2.7 modules don't use a special suffix, so you should simply
-use ``example.so`` instead of ``example$(python3-config --extension-suffix)``.
-Besides, the ``--extension-suffix`` option may or may not be available, depending
-on the distribution; in the latter case, the module extension can be manually
-set to ``.so``.
-
 On macOS: the build command is almost the same but it also requires passing
 the ``-undefined dynamic_lookup`` flag so as to ignore missing symbols when
 building the module:

docs/conf.py

 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 #
 # pybind11 documentation build configuration file, created by
 # sphinx-quickstart on Sun Oct 11 19:23:48 2015.

docs/faq.rst

@@ -8,9 +8,7 @@ Frequently asked questions
 filename of the extension library (without suffixes such as ``.so``).
 
 2. If the above did not fix the issue, you are likely using an incompatible
-version of Python (for instance, the extension library was compiled against
-Python 2, while the interpreter is running on top of some version of Python
-3, or vice versa).
+version of Python that does not match what you compiled with.
 
 "Symbol not found: ``__Py_ZeroStruct`` / ``_PyInstanceMethod_Type``"
 ========================================================================
@@ -289,27 +287,7 @@ Conflicts can arise, however, when using pybind11 in a project that *also* uses
 the CMake Python detection in a system with several Python versions installed.
 
 This difference may cause inconsistencies and errors if *both* mechanisms are
-used in the same project. Consider the following CMake code executed in a
-system with Python 2.7 and 3.x installed:
-
-.. code-block:: cmake
-
-    find_package(PythonInterp)
-    find_package(PythonLibs)
-    find_package(pybind11)
-
-It will detect Python 2.7 and pybind11 will pick it as well.
-
-In contrast this code:
-
-.. code-block:: cmake
-
-    find_package(pybind11)
-    find_package(PythonInterp)
-    find_package(PythonLibs)
-
-will detect Python 3.x for pybind11 and may crash on
-``find_package(PythonLibs)`` afterwards.
+used in the same project.
 
 There are three possible solutions:
 

include/pybind11/cast.h

@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ public:
                 res = 0; // None is implicitly converted to False
             }
 #if defined(PYPY_VERSION)
-            // On PyPy, check that "__bool__" (or "__nonzero__" on Python 2.7) attr exists
+            // On PyPy, check that "__bool__" attr exists
             else if (hasattr(src, PYBIND11_BOOL_ATTR)) {
                 res = PyObject_IsTrue(src.ptr());
             }
@@ -375,37 +375,16 @@ struct string_caster {
     static constexpr size_t UTF_N = 8 * sizeof(CharT);
 
     bool load(handle src, bool) {
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
-        object temp;
-#endif
         handle load_src = src;
         if (!src) {
             return false;
         }
         if (!PyUnicode_Check(load_src.ptr())) {
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
             return load_bytes(load_src);
-#else
-            if (std::is_same<CharT, char>::value) {
-                return load_bytes(load_src);
-            }
-
-            // The below is a guaranteed failure in Python 3 when PyUnicode_Check returns false
-            if (!PYBIND11_BYTES_CHECK(load_src.ptr()))
-                return false;
-
-            temp = reinterpret_steal<object>(PyUnicode_FromObject(load_src.ptr()));
-            if (!temp) {
-                PyErr_Clear();
-                return false;
-            }
-            load_src = temp;
-#endif
         }
 
-#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03030000
-        // On Python >= 3.3, for UTF-8 we avoid the need for a temporary `bytes`
-        // object by using `PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize`.
+        // For UTF-8 we avoid the need for a temporary `bytes` object by using
+        // `PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize`.
         if (PYBIND11_SILENCE_MSVC_C4127(UTF_N == 8)) {
             Py_ssize_t size = -1;
             const auto *buffer
@@ -417,7 +396,6 @@ struct string_caster {
             value = StringType(buffer, static_cast<size_t>(size));
             return true;
         }
-#endif
 
         auto utfNbytes
             = reinterpret_steal<object>(PyUnicode_AsEncodedString(load_src.ptr(),
@@ -486,7 +464,7 @@ private:
     template <typename C = CharT>
     bool load_bytes(enable_if_t<std::is_same<C, char>::value, handle> src) {
         if (PYBIND11_BYTES_CHECK(src.ptr())) {
-            // We were passed a Python 3 raw bytes; accept it into a std::string or char*
+            // We were passed raw bytes; accept it into a std::string or char*
             // without any encoding attempt.
             const char *bytes = PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING(src.ptr());
             if (bytes) {
@@ -922,18 +900,6 @@ struct pyobject_caster {
 
     template <typename T = type, enable_if_t<std::is_base_of<object, T>::value, int> = 0>
     bool load(handle src, bool /* convert */) {
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3 && !defined(PYBIND11_STR_LEGACY_PERMISSIVE)
-        // For Python 2, without this implicit conversion, Python code would
-        // need to be cluttered with six.ensure_text() or similar, only to be
-        // un-cluttered later after Python 2 support is dropped.
-        if (PYBIND11_SILENCE_MSVC_C4127(std::is_same<T, str>::value) && isinstance<bytes>(src)) {
-            PyObject *str_from_bytes = PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject(src.ptr(), "utf-8", nullptr);
-            if (!str_from_bytes)
-                throw error_already_set();
-            value = reinterpret_steal<type>(str_from_bytes);
-            return true;
-        }
-#endif
         if (!isinstance<type>(src)) {
             return false;
         }
@@ -1313,7 +1279,7 @@ public:
 
 /// \ingroup annotations
 /// Annotation indicating that all following arguments are keyword-only; the is the equivalent of
-/// an unnamed '*' argument (in Python 3)
+/// an unnamed '*' argument
 struct kw_only {};
 
 /// \ingroup annotations

include/pybind11/detail/class.h

@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@
 PYBIND11_NAMESPACE_BEGIN(PYBIND11_NAMESPACE)
 PYBIND11_NAMESPACE_BEGIN(detail)
 
-#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03030000 && !defined(PYPY_VERSION)
+#if !defined(PYPY_VERSION)
 #    define PYBIND11_BUILTIN_QUALNAME
 #    define PYBIND11_SET_OLDPY_QUALNAME(obj, nameobj)
 #else
-// In pre-3.3 Python, we still set __qualname__ so that we can produce reliable function type
-// signatures; in 3.3+ this macro expands to nothing:
+// In PyPy, we still set __qualname__ so that we can produce reliable function type
+// signatures; in CPython this macro expands to nothing:
 #    define PYBIND11_SET_OLDPY_QUALNAME(obj, nameobj)                                             \
         setattr((PyObject *) obj, "__qualname__", nameobj)
 #endif
@@ -155,7 +155,6 @@ extern "C" inline int pybind11_meta_setattro(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name, PyOb
     }
 }
 
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
 /**
  * Python 3's PyInstanceMethod_Type hides itself via its tp_descr_get, which prevents aliasing
  * methods via cls.attr("m2") = cls.attr("m1"): instead the tp_descr_get returns a plain function,
@@ -170,7 +169,6 @@ extern "C" inline PyObject *pybind11_meta_getattro(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name
     }
     return PyType_Type.tp_getattro(obj, name);
 }
-#endif
 
 /// metaclass `__call__` function that is used to create all pybind11 objects.
 extern "C" inline PyObject *pybind11_meta_call(PyObject *type, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs) {
@@ -266,9 +264,7 @@ inline PyTypeObject *make_default_metaclass() {
     type->tp_call = pybind11_meta_call;
 
     type->tp_setattro = pybind11_meta_setattro;
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
     type->tp_getattro = pybind11_meta_getattro;
-#endif
 
     type->tp_dealloc = pybind11_meta_dealloc;
 
@@ -613,9 +609,6 @@ extern "C" inline void pybind11_releasebuffer(PyObject *, Py_buffer *view) {
 /// Give this type a buffer interface.
 inline void enable_buffer_protocol(PyHeapTypeObject *heap_type) {
     heap_type->ht_type.tp_as_buffer = &heap_type->as_buffer;
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
-    heap_type->ht_type.tp_flags |= Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_NEWBUFFER;
-#endif
 
     heap_type->as_buffer.bf_getbuffer = pybind11_getbuffer;
     heap_type->as_buffer.bf_releasebuffer = pybind11_releasebuffer;
@@ -628,12 +621,8 @@ inline PyObject *make_new_python_type(const type_record &rec) {
 
     auto qualname = name;
     if (rec.scope && !PyModule_Check(rec.scope.ptr()) && hasattr(rec.scope, "__qualname__")) {
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
         qualname = reinterpret_steal<object>(
             PyUnicode_FromFormat("%U.%U", rec.scope.attr("__qualname__").ptr(), name.ptr()));
-#else
-        qualname = str(rec.scope.attr("__qualname__").cast<std::string>() + "." + rec.name);
-#endif
     }
 
     object module_;
@@ -697,15 +686,10 @@ inline PyObject *make_new_python_type(const type_record &rec) {
     type->tp_as_number = &heap_type->as_number;
     type->tp_as_sequence = &heap_type->as_sequence;
     type->tp_as_mapping = &heap_type->as_mapping;
-#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03050000
     type->tp_as_async = &heap_type->as_async;
-#endif
 
     /* Flags */
     type->tp_flags |= Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT | Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE;
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
-    type->tp_flags |= Py_TPFLAGS_CHECKTYPES;
-#endif
     if (!rec.is_final) {
         type->tp_flags |= Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE;
     }

include/pybind11/detail/common.h

@@ -211,6 +211,9 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <Python.h>
+#if PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x030500f0
+#    error "PYTHON 2 IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED. pybind11 v2.9 was the last to support Python 2."
+#endif
 #include <frameobject.h>
 #include <pythread.h>
 
@@ -266,69 +269,37 @@
 // If UNDEFINED, pybind11::str can only hold PyUnicodeObject, and
 //               pybind11::isinstance<str>() is true only for pybind11::str.
 //               However, for Python 2 only (!), the pybind11::str caster
-//               implicitly decodes bytes to PyUnicodeObject. This is to ease
+//               implicitly decoded bytes to PyUnicodeObject. This was to ease
 //               the transition from the legacy behavior to the non-permissive
 //               behavior.
 
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3 /// Compatibility macros for various Python versions
-#    define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_NEW(ptr, class_) PyInstanceMethod_New(ptr)
-#    define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_CHECK PyInstanceMethod_Check
-#    define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_GET_FUNCTION PyInstanceMethod_GET_FUNCTION
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_CHECK PyBytes_Check
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_FROM_STRING PyBytes_FromString
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_FROM_STRING_AND_SIZE PyBytes_FromStringAndSize
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING_AND_SIZE PyBytes_AsStringAndSize
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING PyBytes_AsString
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_SIZE PyBytes_Size
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_CHECK(o) PyLong_Check(o)
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_LONGLONG(o) PyLong_AsLongLong(o)
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_FROM_SIGNED(o) PyLong_FromSsize_t((ssize_t) (o))
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_FROM_UNSIGNED(o) PyLong_FromSize_t((size_t) (o))
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_NAME "bytes"
-#    define PYBIND11_STRING_NAME "str"
-#    define PYBIND11_SLICE_OBJECT PyObject
-#    define PYBIND11_FROM_STRING PyUnicode_FromString
-#    define PYBIND11_STR_TYPE ::pybind11::str
-#    define PYBIND11_BOOL_ATTR "__bool__"
-#    define PYBIND11_NB_BOOL(ptr) ((ptr)->nb_bool)
-#    define PYBIND11_BUILTINS_MODULE "builtins"
+/// Compatibility macros for Python 2 / Python 3 versions TODO: remove
+#define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_NEW(ptr, class_) PyInstanceMethod_New(ptr)
+#define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_CHECK PyInstanceMethod_Check
+#define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_GET_FUNCTION PyInstanceMethod_GET_FUNCTION
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_CHECK PyBytes_Check
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_FROM_STRING PyBytes_FromString
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_FROM_STRING_AND_SIZE PyBytes_FromStringAndSize
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING_AND_SIZE PyBytes_AsStringAndSize
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING PyBytes_AsString
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_SIZE PyBytes_Size
+#define PYBIND11_LONG_CHECK(o) PyLong_Check(o)
+#define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_LONGLONG(o) PyLong_AsLongLong(o)
+#define PYBIND11_LONG_FROM_SIGNED(o) PyLong_FromSsize_t((ssize_t) (o))
+#define PYBIND11_LONG_FROM_UNSIGNED(o) PyLong_FromSize_t((size_t) (o))
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_NAME "bytes"
+#define PYBIND11_STRING_NAME "str"
+#define PYBIND11_SLICE_OBJECT PyObject
+#define PYBIND11_FROM_STRING PyUnicode_FromString
+#define PYBIND11_STR_TYPE ::pybind11::str
+#define PYBIND11_BOOL_ATTR "__bool__"
+#define PYBIND11_NB_BOOL(ptr) ((ptr)->nb_bool)
+#define PYBIND11_BUILTINS_MODULE "builtins"
 // Providing a separate declaration to make Clang's -Wmissing-prototypes happy.
 // See comment for PYBIND11_MODULE below for why this is marked "maybe unused".
-#    define PYBIND11_PLUGIN_IMPL(name)                                                            \
-        extern "C" PYBIND11_MAYBE_UNUSED PYBIND11_EXPORT PyObject *PyInit_##name();               \
-        extern "C" PYBIND11_EXPORT PyObject *PyInit_##name()
-
-#else
-#    define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_NEW(ptr, class_) PyMethod_New(ptr, nullptr, class_)
-#    define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_CHECK PyMethod_Check
-#    define PYBIND11_INSTANCE_METHOD_GET_FUNCTION PyMethod_GET_FUNCTION
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_CHECK PyString_Check
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_FROM_STRING PyString_FromString
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_FROM_STRING_AND_SIZE PyString_FromStringAndSize
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING_AND_SIZE PyString_AsStringAndSize
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_AS_STRING PyString_AsString
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_SIZE PyString_Size
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_CHECK(o) (PyInt_Check(o) || PyLong_Check(o))
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_LONGLONG(o)                                                          \
-        (PyInt_Check(o) ? (long long) PyLong_AsLong(o) : PyLong_AsLongLong(o))
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_FROM_SIGNED(o) PyInt_FromSsize_t((ssize_t) o) // Returns long if needed.
-#    define PYBIND11_LONG_FROM_UNSIGNED(o) PyInt_FromSize_t((size_t) o) // Returns long if needed.
-#    define PYBIND11_BYTES_NAME "str"
-#    define PYBIND11_STRING_NAME "unicode"
-#    define PYBIND11_SLICE_OBJECT PySliceObject
-#    define PYBIND11_FROM_STRING PyString_FromString
-#    define PYBIND11_STR_TYPE ::pybind11::bytes
-#    define PYBIND11_BOOL_ATTR "__nonzero__"
-#    define PYBIND11_NB_BOOL(ptr) ((ptr)->nb_nonzero)
-#    define PYBIND11_BUILTINS_MODULE "__builtin__"
-// Providing a separate PyInit decl to make Clang's -Wmissing-prototypes happy.
-// See comment for PYBIND11_MODULE below for why this is marked "maybe unused".
-#    define PYBIND11_PLUGIN_IMPL(name)                                                            \
-        static PyObject *pybind11_init_wrapper();                                                 \
-        extern "C" PYBIND11_MAYBE_UNUSED PYBIND11_EXPORT void init##name();                       \
-        extern "C" PYBIND11_EXPORT void init##name() { (void) pybind11_init_wrapper(); }          \
-        PyObject *pybind11_init_wrapper()
-#endif
+#define PYBIND11_PLUGIN_IMPL(name)                                                                \
+    extern "C" PYBIND11_MAYBE_UNUSED PYBIND11_EXPORT PyObject *PyInit_##name();                   \
+    extern "C" PYBIND11_EXPORT PyObject *PyInit_##name()
 
 #if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03050000 && PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x03050200
 extern "C" {
@@ -362,31 +333,15 @@ PyAPI_DATA(_Py_atomic_address) _PyThreadState_Current;
         }                                                                                         \
     }
 
-#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03030000
-
-#    define PYBIND11_CATCH_INIT_EXCEPTIONS                                                        \
-        catch (pybind11::error_already_set & e) {                                                 \
-            pybind11::raise_from(e, PyExc_ImportError, "initialization failed");                  \
-            return nullptr;                                                                       \
-        }                                                                                         \
-        catch (const std::exception &e) {                                                         \
-            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, e.what());                                         \
-            return nullptr;                                                                       \
-        }
-
-#else
-
-#    define PYBIND11_CATCH_INIT_EXCEPTIONS                                                        \
-        catch (pybind11::error_already_set & e) {                                                 \
-            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, e.what());                                         \
-            return nullptr;                                                                       \
-        }                                                                                         \
-        catch (const std::exception &e) {                                                         \
-            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, e.what());                                         \
-            return nullptr;                                                                       \
-        }
-
-#endif
+#define PYBIND11_CATCH_INIT_EXCEPTIONS                                                            \
+    catch (pybind11::error_already_set & e) {                                                     \
+        pybind11::raise_from(e, PyExc_ImportError, "initialization failed");                      \
+        return nullptr;                                                                           \
+    }                                                                                             \
+    catch (const std::exception &e) {                                                             \
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, e.what());                                             \
+        return nullptr;                                                                           \
+    }
 
 /** \rst
     ***Deprecated in favor of PYBIND11_MODULE***