PyPy 8.0.0 makes cp312-abi3 wheels work, drops HPy

PyPy 8.0.0 went out on September 19 with PyPy2.7, PyPy3.11, and a beta PyPy3.12, and the headline change isn't speed. It's compatibility. A new C layer hides PyPy's internal ob_pypy_link field before handing pointers to extension modules. That lets wheels built against CPython's limited ABI for 3.12+ install on PyPy without a separate build, per PyPy's release notes.

That closes a real gap. PyPy's pitch has always been drop-in speed for pure Python code. But a project that pulls in a C extension shipped only as a cp312-abi3 wheel has broken PyPy support unless someone maintains a separate build. This fix removes a packaging failure that has nothing to do with PyPy's performance.

The release also drops the HPy backend. HPy was the portable C API meant to work across CPython and PyPy. The release notes cite low adoption as the reason it's gone. PyPy3.11 is also the last release in that line.

RPython, the compiler PyPy is built with, moved to computed gotos and more aggressive inlining in this release. The notes call the resulting gains modest and don't publish numbers, so there's no before-and-after to point to.

Anyone maintaining a package that ships abi3 wheels and has skipped PyPy for lack of a build path has one less excuse. Watch whether any popular C-extension package adds PyPy to its CI now that the wheel gap is closed.