[Guts]

Stacked on #514 (base packaging/drop-python-3.10). The build workflow only runs on pull requests targeting master, so it will run once GitHub retargets this PR, after #514 is merged: that run is the real validation of the executables.

Description

Builds the Linux and Windows executables with Python 3.14 instead of 3.11. Set once, in the workflow's global PYTHON_VERSION: the Windows job no longer overrides it.

GDAL on Windows

GDAL comes from a cgohlke/geospatial-wheels wheel, previously hardcoded (GDAL 3.11.1, cp311, release v2025.7.4). That release does contain a cp314 wheel, but it was built on 4 July 2025, against a Python 3.14 pre-release, before the ABI was frozen at 3.14.0rc1. This PR uses v2025.10.25, the first release built after Python 3.14.0 final, with GDAL 3.11.4: same minor version as the Linux build (3.11.*).

The wheel URL is now built from GDAL_VERSION, GEOSPATIAL_WHEELS_RELEASE and PYTHON_VERSION (the way tester.yml already does); the resulting URL was checked to resolve.

Checked beforehand

• PyInstaller allows Python 3.14 from 6.15.0 on (requires_python of earlier releases stops at <3.14); the current range >=6.8.0,<6.23 resolves to 6.22.3 there, so no pin change.
• Compiled runtime dependencies — PyQt6, PyQt6-Qt6, PyQt6-sip, lxml, numpy, charset-normalizer — all publish cp314 or abi3 wheels for Windows and Linux x86_64: no build from source during packaging.
• Linux GDAL bindings are built from source against the system libgdal, as the Ubuntu 3.14 test job already does successfully.

Windows tests aligned

The Windows test matrix used the v2025.7.4 wheels (GDAL 3.11.1) and stopped at 3.13. It now uses the same release and GDAL version as the builder (v2025.10.25, GDAL 3.11.4, set through the same GEOSPATIAL_WHEELS_RELEASE/GDAL_VERSION env variables, with a note in both workflows to keep them in sync) and runs on 3.11 to 3.14, like Ubuntu: the Python version shipped in the Windows executable is now unit-tested on Windows. The example wheel name in docs/development/windows.md follows.

Related issue(s)

Follows #514.

Type of change

• Bug fix (fix/… branch)
• New feature or enhancement (feature/… branch)
• Documentation (docs/… branch or *.md/docs/** changes)
• Packaging / build (packaging/… branch or builder/** changes)
• Tooling / CI-CD (tooling/… branch or .github/** changes)
• Tests only (tests/** changes)

Checklist

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines
• pre-commit run --all-files passes locally (on the branch's changes; workflow YAML validated, pre-commit.ci runs on the PR)
• I have added or updated tests covering my changes (workflow change, validated by the build job itself)
• I have updated the documentation where relevant (nothing documents the build's Python version)
• pytest passes locally (no code change)

AI/LLM disclosure

• Level: 7 — human specced, bots coded.
• Model: claude-opus-5-5
• Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Dwmm8jY9WWvgUJt9WQ7QWZ

https://claude.ai/code/session_01Dwmm8jY9WWvgUJt9WQ7QWZ

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Generated by Claude Code

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 78.11%. Comparing base (6128112) to head (d3dd616).
⚠️ Report is 5 commits behind head on master.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##           master     #515   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   78.11%   78.11%           
=======================================
  Files          55       55           
  Lines        3473     3473           
  Branches      424      424           
=======================================
  Hits         2713     2713           
  Misses        639      639           
  Partials      121      121           

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	78.05% <ø> (ø)

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