Python 3.12 deprecated imp

[moemyself3]

I was running some code that called FITS_tools and found that imp has been deprecated in python 3.12.

I see that the only method called is imp.reload so you may be able to swap it for importlib.reload (introduced python 3.1)

https://github.com/keflavich/FITS_tools/blob/80616e3301931e3157d54738a9c63ac03c0172f5/ah_bootstrap.py#L36

I can start a pull request if you'd like.

[keflavich]

yeah, the way I'd like to do it is:

try:
    import imp
except ImportError:
    import importlib as imp

A PR is welcome, though!

[moemyself3]

Ohh indeed! Much better since it preserves older python.

Hmm I cracked this open a bit further. I made the change on your code, but now it falls on the deprecated and archived astropy_helpers/astropy_helpers/utils.py:

https://github.com/astropy/astropy-helpers/blob/14ca346b0da3e92e65bdc398cc8f726cbd7be57d/astropy_helpers/utils.py#L6

seems like it'll continue to fail unless the use is changed in the helpers as well. I'll try it out to see if we can get it to work.

[keflavich]

Yeah, I need to replace astropy-helpers entirely; that whole package is deprecated. If you want to give it a go, I'd be happy to merge that.

[moemyself3]

I was able to make changes in the astropy-helpers package to the point that I was able to install FITS_tools locally using pip.

Essentially the import_file() method needed to be updated using importlib. That being said, I'm at the edge of my knowledge with git and submodules. I made the commit of changes to astropy-helpers on my local fork of FITS_tools and realized that the changes are not preserved. When I check the commit to changes on astropy-helpers it point to a 404.

I am assuming the way to make this work is to fork the astropy-helpers make changes to my fork and link the submodule to that one instead.

Let me know what you think. I know this is really just a stopgap until astropy-helpers can be replaced.

[keflavich]

Actually, the best thing is just to totally remove astropy-helpers.... we've done this before in, e.g., https://github.com/radio-astro-tools/spectral-cube/pull/599

[mcyc]

I've overhauled setup.py and made a PR (https://github.com/keflavich/FITS_tools/pull/17) to address this issue. @keflavich, can you double-check to see if I'm missing anything, including if setup.cfg is still needed? I haven't had issues with this implementation so far.

If this is good, I think we can safely remove ah_bootstrap.py as well.