Removing pathlib.Path.link_to() in python 3.12 is a breaking change which is a violation of semver.

[brunoais]

Bug report

Using python 3 where this is valid (e.g. Python 3.8):

from pathlib import Path
Path('destination').link_to('source')

It doesn't work in python 3.12 anymore.
I agree it should be deprecated at this point but the removal should be in python 4, not in python 3.
In my case, it will break some production code of my employer which started using link_to as soon as it became available in a python stable version (python 3.9).

Because this is breaking change on a minor version, without any security requirements, I consider that a bug.

Your environment

Python 3.8
Linux x64

[JelleZijlstra]

Python does not follow semver; our general policy is that features can be removed after they have been deprecated in two feature releases (e.g., 3.10 and 3.11). See PEP 387 for the policy.

In this case, it appears that link_to was deprecated in 3.10, which makes it eligible to be removed in 3.12 (https://docs.python.org/3.10/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.link_to).

[brunoais]

What's the official recommendation on how to make code that code work in python 3.8 and 3.12 at the same time, then.

[JelleZijlstra]

Something like:

if sys.version_info >= (3, 10):
    my_path.hardlink_to(target)
else:
    target.link_to(my_path)

[brunoais]

That will be a hassle to do all around the code but ok