Crash with module 'tarfile' has no attribute 'data_filter' on CPython <3.9.17 and <3.10.12

[nicoddemus]

Issue

Seeing this internal error across multiple packages that use tox:

py39-xdist: install_deps> python -I -m pip install pytest-xdist>=2.1.0 -e .
.pkg_external: freeze> python -m pip freeze --all
.pkg_external: pip==25.1.1,setuptools==80.9.0
py39-xdist: internal error
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\session\cmd\run\single.py", line 47, in _evaluate
    tox_env.setup()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\api.py", line 283, in setup
    self._setup_with_env()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\runner.py", line 146, in _setup_with_env
    self._setup_pkg()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\runner.py", line 169, in _setup_pkg
    self._packages = self._build_packages()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\python\runner.py", line 122, in _build_packages
    packages = package_env.perform_packaging(self.conf)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\package.py", line 46, in _func
    return meth(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\python\virtual_env\package\cmd_builder.py", line 96, in perform_packaging
    return self.extract_install_info(for_env, path)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\package.py", line 46, in _func
    return meth(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\python\virtual_env\package\cmd_builder.py", line [11](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16427355653/job/46421357851?pr=13611#step:6:12)0, in extract_install_info
    tar.extractall(path=str(work_dir), filter=tarfile.data_filter)  # noqa: S202
AttributeError: module 'tarfile' has no attribute 'data_filter'
  py39-xdist: FAIL code 2 ([15](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16427355653/job/46421357851?pr=13611#step:6:16).98 seconds)
  evaluation failed :( ([16](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16427355653/job/46421357851?pr=13611#step:6:17).19 seconds)

• https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16427355653/job/46421357851?pr=13611
• https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-qt/actions/runs/16427359890/job/46421909852?pr=613

Environment

The issue happens in Python 3.9 and Python 3.10, Windows and MacOS, but not on Linux.

[rly]

Since the tox 4.28.0 release two days ago, I've been seeing the same error here in GitHub Actions runners: https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/actions/runs/16409158456/job/46360464748

• Windows with Python 3.9 and 3.10
• Mac with Python 3.10
• not Linux, not later Python versions, not Mac with Python 3.9

[gaborbernat]

4.27.0...4.28.0#diff-fbeb3e7f9d787c4e23530a3ead805116edfbb0f6e5c80c2467b37d6c2d39b54f seems to point to this file, and indead seems was added in 3.12 https://peps.python.org/pep-0721/ (but I assume back-ported) and https://docs.python.org/3/library/tarfile.html#tarfile.data_filter says is generally available; and works in our CI. Wonder if some Python distributions don't have it, if anyone can look into it 🤔

My guess is that this was backported at some patch releases, and those Python are older patch version?

[gaborbernat]

Seems for:

• 3.10 python/cpython@425065b requires 3.10.12
• 3.9 python/cpython@98016f7 requires v3.9.17

The macos and Windows GHA images lag behind Linux, hence the issue here.

[nicoddemus]

Thanks for the fix!

However, we are seeing a different failure now:

py39-twisted25-coverage: install_deps> python -I -m pip install coverage-enable-subprocess twisted>=25
.pkg_external: freeze> python -m pip freeze --all
.pkg_external: pip==25.1.1,setuptools==80.9.0
py39-twisted25-coverage: internal error
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\session\cmd\run\single.py", line 47, in _evaluate
    tox_env.setup()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\api.py", line 283, in setup
    self._setup_with_env()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\runner.py", line 146, in _setup_with_env
    self._setup_pkg()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\runner.py", line 169, in _setup_pkg
    self._packages = self._build_packages()
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\python\runner.py", line [12](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16498569353/job/46650564068?pr=13014#step:7:13)2, in _build_packages
    packages = package_env.perform_packaging(self.conf)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.[13](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16498569353/job/46650564068?pr=13014#step:7:14)\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\package.py", line 46, in _func
    return meth(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\python\virtual_env\package\cmd_builder.py", line 97, in perform_packaging
    return self.extract_install_info(for_env, path)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\package.py", line 46, in _func
    return meth(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\lib\site-packages\tox\tox_env\python\virtual_env\package\cmd_builder.py", line 111, in extract_install_info
    tar.extractall(  # noqa: S[20](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16498569353/job/46650564068?pr=13014#step:7:21)2
TypeError: extractall() got an unexpected keyword argument 'filter'

https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/actions/runs/16498569353/job/46650564017?pr=13014

I'm reopening this, but let me know if you would prefer a new issue instead.

[ssbarnea]

@nicoddemus This could be avoided if you enable tox-uv as it will instead install recent python from uv instead of the heavily outdated one from Windows runners (likely unmaintained, so I doubt the team will bother to update it on the runners). They have 3.9.13 instead 3.9.23 so 10 releases old.

Update: Based on actions/setup-python#926 we conclude that github has no plans to update python 3.9 on these platforms which means that using setup-python action is no longer viable for us (at least for these cases). Am I correct?