... assuming this is okay, it would be great to merge this and cut a release since 9.2.2 is on PyPi now. People are going to start having problems with pip install mayavi soon I think :(

Bumping to a minimum of 3.7 here, too, since 3.6 is EOL and it's nice to be able to use f-strings

Okay finally all green, top comment updated with actual changes. Ready for review/merge from my end!

I'd recommend updating the branch protection rules before merging this PR both to make merging easier and ensure the rules are correct for future PRs.

I will take a look tonight. Many thanks!

@prabhuramachandran worth a quick 4.8.1 release for this? 9.2.2 is on PyPi so I think a lot of folks will be affected by this.

Yes, I can try to do this in a couple of days. I am primarily concerned about what we do regarding numpy distutils and other issues in the use of setup.py. I have lost touch with these decisions. I am finding it hard to keep up with the packaging solutions today which more often than not (at least when I checked) are sub-optimal (no support for the corner cases that matter in scientific computing) but then are eventually forced on us. Do you have any recommendations so I can catch up or decide about this?

There is also this: #969 which still needs resolution but I haven't had the time to look at this closely. The 9.2.2 issue is serious enough to warrant an emergency release.

I am primarily concerned about what we do regarding numpy distutils and other issues in the use of setup.py

For a couple of projects recently I've started using pyproject.toml which seems like the way of the future (and I see it used by NumPy, SciPy, etc.) and it hasn't been too bad. But the Mayavi's build configuration is a bit more complex than those projects, so who knows.

There is also this: #969 which still needs resolution but I haven't had the time to look at this closely.

That one is bigger/harder/more impactful I think. For that I'd bump to 4.9 or even 5.0 :)