!feat(backend): bump minimum python version (#12223)

* bump ci versions

* bump installer version

* bump tooling version ref

* bump doc refs

* bump / refactor code refs

* bump debug ref

* remove now unneeded deps

* bump release version

* remove distutils

* fix finder call

* remove old compat code

* add changelog entry

* lower cov target for now

.github/workflows/release.yaml

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: read
 env:
-  python_version: 3.11
+  python_version: 3.12
 
 jobs:
   stable:
@@ -151,9 +151,9 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         target:
-          - ubuntu:22.04
           - ubuntu:24.04
-          - debian:12
+          - ubuntu:26.04
+          - debian:13
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # pin@v6.0.3