Meta issue for the upcoming Streamlink 7.0.0 release.

The main part will be the support end of Python 3.8 (EOL was finally reached yesterday), the support end of x86 (32 bit) builds of Windows installers and portable archives plus the Linux AppImages (i686), and in addition to that some overdue cleanups of deprecated stuff (both user-facing CLI changes and Streamlink API changes).

Breaking platform/build changes

• Drop support for Python 3.8 #6229
  • chore: drop support for Python 3.8 #6230
• Should the "32-bit" Windows builds and Linux AppImages be dropped? #5732
  • docs: drop i686 Linux AppImages and x86+py38 Windows builds #6052
  • Windows builds:
    streamlink/windows-builds@fccd29d...f9140db
  • Linux AppImage:
    streamlink/streamlink-appimage@8cb3110...be421d2

Breaking CLI changes

• remove deprecated {,plugin-}config paths
  • cli: remove deprecated {,plugin-}config paths #6149
• remove deprecated plugins paths
  • cli: remove deprecated plugins paths #6150
• remove deprecated --force-progress argument
  • cli: remove deprecated --force-progress argument #6196
• remove deprecated stream-type-related arguments
  • session: remove deprecated stream-type options #6232
  • --hls-segment-attempts
  • --hls-segment-threads
  • --hls-segment-timeout
  • --hls-timeout
  • --http-stream-timeout
• remove suppressed plugin arguments (keep them for now, add warning message)
  • --sbscokr-id
  • --twitch-disable-hosting
  • --twitch-disable-reruns

Breaking Streamlink API changes

• remove deprecated stream-type-related arguments
  • session: remove deprecated stream-type options #6232
  • hls-segment-attempts
  • hls-segment-threads
  • hls-segment-timeout
  • hls-timeout
  • dash-segment-attempts
  • dash-segment-threads
  • dash-segment-timeout
  • dash-timeout
  • http-stream-timeout
• remove deprecated import paths for HTTPSession and custom HTTPAdapters
  • Remove deprecated plugin.api/plugins import paths #6274
• remove deprecated import path for NoPluginError, NoStreamsError, PluginError and Plugin
  • Remove deprecated plugin.api/plugins import paths #6274

Docs

• Add migration docs of removed stuff and add link to deprecation page sections
  • docs: add migration docs for the breaking changes of 7.0.0 #6235
  • remove deprecated {,plugin-}config paths
  • remove deprecated plugins paths
  • remove deprecated --force-progress argument
  • remove deprecated stream-type-related arguments