Jax (among others) likes to use Python runtimes from python-build-standalone that are pre-release versions to help verify upcoming behavior and try out new Python features. e.g. right now, they carry a patch to map 3.14 to 3.14.0a6.

The underlying versions.bzl file doesn't support pre-release versions, though, so they patch 3.14.0 to point to a 3.14.0a6 URL. This works, but it's a bit misleading. It's also problematic if one wanted to have configuration for two versions at once, differentiated by their pre-release version.

(Using patches isn't ideal, but I think they're using an older version that doesn't yet have the TOOL_VERSIONS arg/override -- regardless, the same issues are present).

While #2081 would also address this, I figured a more specific feature request is warranted (this is more narrowly scoped and well defined than 2081).

In any case, the desired outcome should be:

• A user can set --python_version=3.14.0.a6 on the command line, and have the appropriate runtime used
• A user can have more than one pre-release configured in e.g. TOOL_VERSIONS

This should be fairly easy to implement and test:

• Use py_reconfig_test to set the python_version and customize toolchains
• Have the test assert sys.version
• Start fixing the errors and misbehaviors that ensue.

cc @kanglant