'mix compile' fails when using Python 3.11

[zetetic]

macOS 14.2

$ elixir -v
Erlang/OTP 26 [erts-14.2] [source] [64-bit] [smp:16:16] [ds:16:16:10] [async-threads:1] [jit:ns]

Elixir 1.15.7 (compiled with Erlang/OTP 26)

$ python --version
Python 3.11.6

When running 'mix compile' on a new Elixir project including ratatouille (which depends on ex_termbox):

$ mix compile
==> ex_termbox
cd c_src/termbox && CFLAGS=-fPIC ./waf configure --prefix=. && ./waf
Waf: The wscript in '/Users/tomhead/projects/nrat/deps/ex_termbox/c_src/termbox' is unreadable
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/tomhead/projects/nrat/deps/ex_termbox/c_src/termbox/.waf3-2.0.14-e67604cd8962dbdaf7c93e0d7470ef5b/waflib/Scripting.py", line 102, in waf_entry_point
    set_main_module(wscript)
  File "/Users/tomhead/projects/nrat/deps/ex_termbox/c_src/termbox/.waf3-2.0.14-e67604cd8962dbdaf7c93e0d7470ef5b/waflib/Scripting.py", line 142, in set_main_module
    Context.g_module=Context.load_module(file_path)
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/tomhead/projects/nrat/deps/ex_termbox/c_src/termbox/.waf3-2.0.14-e67604cd8962dbdaf7c93e0d7470ef5b/waflib/Context.py", line 349, in load_module
    code=Utils.readf(path,m='rU',encoding=encoding)
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/tomhead/projects/nrat/deps/ex_termbox/c_src/termbox/.waf3-2.0.14-e67604cd8962dbdaf7c93e0d7470ef5b/waflib/Utils.py", line 146, in readf
    with open(fname,m)as f:
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ValueError: invalid mode: 'rUb'
make: *** [c_src/termbox/build/src/libtermbox.a] Error 2

Downgrading Python to 3.10 allows 'mix compile' to complete successfully.

I think this is related to the following issue, which mentions that support for the deprecated 'U' flag was removed in v3.11:

open(): remove 'U' mode, deprecated since Python 3.3 #81511

[jimurrito]

@zetetic same issue here. My team can repro the issue ondemand as well with Python v3.11 +, and remediated with python v3.10

[jdmarshall]

Still happening with 3.12.2

[sschuldenzucker]

NB it also fails for 3.12.4 but for a different reason: here, the imp module is missing, which is deprecated. So this would be another thing that needs to be fixed.

[jimurrito]

Looks like this is an error from Termbox itself. This repo is just the bindings for Termbox in Elixir. The last update to Termbox was 6 years ago. Likely the issue should be raised there, but I doubt they will update it for the newer versions of Python. Link to Termbox repo https://github.com/nsf/termbox

[dragon0]

The issue is that Termbox is using waf version 2.0.14. It looks like this issue has been fixed in waf 2.1.2: https://gitlab.com/ita1024/waf/blob/master/ChangeLog

I've opened an issue in termbox: https://github.com/nsf/termbox/issues/136