Update SCons (#17278)

Closes #17254

Summary of the issue:
We are currently on SCons version 4.5.2, which was released in March of 2023. The latest version of SCons, version 4.8.1, was released in September 2024.

Description of user facing changes:
None.

Description of development approach
* Updated the required version of SCons from 4.5.2 to 4.8.1 in `requirements.txt`.
* Changed the order of arguments to  `SCons.Tool.MSCommon.vc.find_vc_pdir` to that expected by SCons 4.8.
  * Previously, the order of arguments was `environment, version`. As of SCons 4.8, it is `version, environment`.
  * Changed in SCons/scons#4534

Testing strategy:
Built the project locally and on Appveyor.

Known issues with pull request:
None.

nvdaHelper/liblouis/sconscript

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def getLouisVersion():
 
 
 # Liblouis is build with Clang, as Microsoft Visual C++ is unable to build C99 code.
-clangDirs = glob.glob(os.path.join(find_vc_pdir(env, env.get("MSVC_VERSION")), r"Tools\Llvm\bin"))
+clangDirs = glob.glob(os.path.join(find_vc_pdir(env.get("MSVC_VERSION"), env), r"Tools\Llvm\bin"))
 if len(clangDirs) == 0:
 	raise RuntimeError(
 		"Could not find the Clang compiler. "

nvdaHelper/localWin10/sconscript

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ localWin10Lib = env.SharedLibrary(
 msvc = env.get("MSVC_VERSION")
 vcRedistDirs = glob.glob(
 	os.path.join(
-		find_vc_pdir(env, msvc), rf"Redist\MSVC\{msvc[:2]}*\x86\Microsoft.VC{msvc.replace('.', '')}.CRT"
+		find_vc_pdir(msvc, env), rf"Redist\MSVC\{msvc[:2]}*\x86\Microsoft.VC{msvc.replace('.', '')}.CRT"
 	)
 )
 if len(vcRedistDirs) == 0:

requirements.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # NVDA's build system is SCons
-SCons==4.5.2
+SCons==4.8.1
 
 # NVDA's runtime dependencies
 comtypes==1.4.6

user_docs/en/changes.md

@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ Add-ons will need to be re-tested and have their manifest updated.
   * Updated Ruff to 0.6.3. (#17102)
   * Updated Comtypes to 1.4.6. (#17061, @LeonarddeR)
   * Updated wxPython to 4.2.2. (#17181, @dpy013)
+  * Updated SCons to 4.8.1. (#17254)
   * Updated sphinx to 8.1.2 and sphinx-rtd-theme to 3.0.1. (#17284, @josephsl)
 * `ui.browseableMessage` may now be called with options to present a button for copying to clipboard, and/or a button for closing the window. (#17018, @XLTechie)
 * Several additions to identify link types (#16994, @LeonarddeR, @nvdaes)