[Python] Require numpy 2.x

[alippai]

Describe the enhancement requested

Numpy 1.26 (last of the 1.x version) has reached end of life in September 2025

Component(s)

Python, Packaging, Release, Documentation, Integration

[pitrou]

@jorisvandenbossche @rok @AlenkaF Does this sound reasonable?

[rok]

Last 1.x was more than 24 months ago, so it sounds ok. I would appreciate @jorisvandenbossche 's opinion though.

[jorisvandenbossche]

Yes, definitely, it is time to drop pandas 1.x support

For numpy 1.26 we might want wait a bit longer, although nowadays I think most projects have updated

[jorisvandenbossche]

Recommendation from NumPy developer to only drop 1.26 the earliest mid 2026: scientific-python/specs#386 (comment) (and as Arrow, we might even want to be a bit more conservative)

[pitrou]

Recommendation from NumPy developer to only drop 1.26 the earliest mid 2026: scientific-python/specs#386 (comment) (and as Arrow, we might even want to be a bit more conservative)

I see. Well, it depends what the cost is for us of still supporting 1.26, I'd say.

[raulcd]

We should remove this fix from the musllinux wheels dockerfile when bumping numpy:
#49639