BUILD.md

@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ installed onto the live rootfs.
 **Two distinct categories live in the same file** with the same code
 path (fetched, not installed on live), but different long-term homes:
 
-1. **Desktop-spin leftovers** (telegram-desktop, mpv, abiword, gnumeric,
+1. **Desktop-spin leftovers** (telegram-desktop, mpv, abiword,
    simplescreenrecorder, …). Inherited from the earlier all-in-one
    desktop image. Don't match the operator-USB role. **Long-term home:
    disk-install only.** Not returning to the live USB.
@@ -483,7 +483,6 @@ disk-install consumer still needs to install
 | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | -----------------------------: | -------------: | ----------------- |
 | `blender`              | Parametric 3D modelling + Python `bpy` skill substrate | (large; measure on next image) |        (large) | roadmap-essential |
 | `telegram-desktop`     | Messaging                                              |                      52.08 MiB |     236.90 MiB | leftover          |
-| `gnumeric`             | Spreadsheet                                            |                      13.14 MiB |      45.91 MiB | leftover          |
 | `abiword`              | Word processor                                         |                       4.75 MiB |      21.60 MiB | leftover          |
 | `mpv`                  | Media player                                           |                       1.60 MiB |       6.96 MiB | leftover          |
 | `simplescreenrecorder` | Screen/audio capture                                   |                       1.31 MiB |       3.83 MiB | leftover          |
@@ -515,7 +514,6 @@ dependencies from desktop applications, not an installer direction:
 | `telegram-desktop`     | `qt6-declarative`, `qt6-wayland`, `qt6-svg`, `qt6-lottie`, `kf6-*`, **`pipewire`** |
 | `simplescreenrecorder` | **`pulseaudio`**, **`pipewire`**, `qt6-base`, `ffmpeg`                             |
 | `mpv`                  | `ffmpeg`, `libplacebo`, `mesa-libs`, `wayland`, `vulkan-loader`                    |
-| `gnumeric`             | `python311`, `py311-pygobject`, `goffice`                                          |
 | `abiword`              | `goffice`, `libgsf`, `wv`                                                          |
 
 `simplescreenrecorder` is the worst offender — a single niche tool drags
@@ -560,8 +558,10 @@ Listed for completeness so the lean/full split stays honest:
 - **Networking:** `tailscale`, `networkmgr`, `wifi-firmware-kmod`,
   `FreeBSD-fwget`.
 - **Jails:** `bastille`.
-- **Operator diagnostics (tmux screenshot skill):** `tmux`, `screen`,
-  `mc`, `zip`, `unzip`, `7-zip`, `python311`, `py311-pillow`, `dejavu`.
+- **Operator diagnostics:** `tmux`, `screen`, `mc`, `zip`, `unzip`,
+  `7-zip`, `python312`, `dejavu`. Python package-flavored extras such as
+  Pillow stay out of pkg lists until FreeBSD quarterly publishes Python 3.12
+  flavors.
 - **Xorg base:** `xorg-minimal`, `xkeyboard-config`, `xkbcomp`,
   `xf86-input-libinput`, `xf86-video-scfb`, `xf86-video-intel`,
   `xf86-video-amdgpu`, `xf86-video-ati`, `drm-kmod`,

README.md

@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ and allocated size; write the logical image to a USB key large enough for it.
    tailscale version
    firefox
    tmux -V
-   python3 -c "import PIL; print(PIL.__version__)"
+   python3 --version
    bastille --help
    mdo -u root bastille --help
    test -f /usr/local/share/fonts/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono.ttf

TESTING.md

@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ command -v pi
 pi --help
 tailscale version
 tmux -V
-python3 -c "import PIL; print(PIL.__version__)"
+python3 --version
 bastille --help
 mdo -u root bastille --help
 ```
@@ -1087,7 +1087,7 @@ Mark the image good only when all of these are true:
 - [ ] `pi --help` works
 - [ ] `tailscale version` works
 - [ ] `tmux -V` works
-- [ ] `python3 -c "import PIL; print(PIL.__version__)"` works
+- [ ] `python3 --version` reports Python 3.12
 - [ ] `bastille --help` works
 - [ ] `sudo` is absent from the live image
 - [ ] no stale-label confusion remains on the flashed USB stick

build.sh

@@ -1246,12 +1246,17 @@ configure_live_operator_session() {
         chmod 0644 "${MOUNT_POINT}/etc/resolv.conf"
     fi
 
-    # FreeBSD packages ship python3.11 but not a bare python3 symlink.
-    # Scripts that use /usr/bin/env python3 break without this.
-    if [ -x "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python3.11" ] && \
-       [ ! -e "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python3" ]; then
-        ln -sf python3.11 "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python3"
-        ln -sf python3.11 "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python"
+    # FreeBSD packages ship pythonX.Y (e.g. python3.12) but not a bare python3
+    # symlink. Scripts that use /usr/bin/env python3 break without this.
+    # Derive the installed minor version so a future bump (3.12 -> 3.13) needs
+    # only a package-list change, never an edit here.
+    if [ ! -e "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python3" ]; then
+        py_bin=$(ls "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin"/python3.* 2>/dev/null \
+            | sed 's@.*/@@' | grep -E '^python3\.[0-9]+$' | sort -V | tail -1)
+        if [ -n "${py_bin}" ]; then
+            ln -sf "${py_bin}" "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python3"
+            ln -sf "${py_bin}" "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/bin/python"
+        fi
     fi
 
     mkdir -p "${MOUNT_POINT}/usr/local/etc/sddm.conf.d"

firstboot/shell-deploy.sh

@@ -486,9 +486,9 @@ clawdie_shell_deploy_setup_aider_venv() {
   if [ ! -x "$python_bin" ]; then
     log_msg "[deploy] Creating Aider venv at $venv_dir"
     if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]; then
-      su - clawdie -c "python3.11 -m venv --system-site-packages '$venv_dir'" || return 1
+      su - clawdie -c "python3 -m venv --system-site-packages '$venv_dir'" || return 1
     else
-      python3.11 -m venv --system-site-packages "$venv_dir" || return 1
+      python3 -m venv --system-site-packages "$venv_dir" || return 1
     fi
   fi
 
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ clawdie_shell_deploy_verify() {
       log_msg "[deploy] ✓ Aider available"
     fi
   else
-    log_msg "[deploy] ⚠ Aider CLI not found (py311-aider_chat missing)"
+    log_msg "[deploy] ⚠ Aider CLI not found (Aider venv setup missing)"
   fi
 
   return $failed

packages/pkg-list-disk-install-extras.txt

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # Two categories live here. They share the same code path (fetched to the
 # offline repo, not installed on live) but have different long-term homes:
 #
-#   1. Desktop-spin leftovers (telegram-desktop, mpv, abiword, gnumeric, ...).
+#   1. Desktop-spin leftovers (telegram-desktop, mpv, abiword, ...).
 #      Long-term home: disk-install only. Not coming back to the live USB.
 #
 #   2. Roadmap-essential, deferred for stabilization (blender). First-class
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ zed-editor
 telegram-desktop
 epdfview
 abiword
-gnumeric
 antiword
 catdoc
 xls2txt

packages/pkg-list-host.txt

@@ -14,9 +14,7 @@ bsddialog
 codex
 
 # Python / tooling
-python311
-py311-pip
-py311-aider_chat
+python312
 just
 uv
 ripgrep
@@ -35,7 +33,6 @@ postgresql18-client
 dnsmasq
 
 # Media / fonts
-py311-pillow
 dejavu
 
 # Wayland display stack (desktop installs)

packages/pkg-list-live-operator.txt

@@ -65,8 +65,7 @@ zip
 unzip
 7-zip
 bitchx
-python311
-py311-pillow
+python312
 dejavu
 # Hardware introspection. FreeBSD base already provides pciconf(8),
 # usbconfig(8), devinfo(8), and kldstat(8); add a few extra probes that

scripts/import-clawdie-skills.sh

@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ for skill_md in "$CLAWDIE_AI"/.agent/skills/*/SKILL.md; do
         category="freebsd"
     fi
     
-    id=$(uuidgen 2>/dev/null || python3.11 -c "import uuid; print(uuid.uuid4())" 2>/dev/null || echo "skill-$(echo "$name" | md5)")
+    id=$(uuidgen 2>/dev/null || python3 -c "import uuid; print(uuid.uuid4())" 2>/dev/null || echo "skill-$(echo "$name" | md5)")
     
     sqlite3 "$DB" "INSERT OR IGNORE INTO skills (id, name, description, category, created_at)
         VALUES ('$id', '$(echo "$name" | sed "s/'/''/g")', '$(echo "$description" | sed "s/'/''/g")', '$category', '$NOW');" 2>/dev/null && IMPORTED=$((IMPORTED + 1)) || SKIPPED=$((SKIPPED + 1))