Update unit tests to handle external library changes

[skrawcz]

There are various unit tests that are breaking due to library updates of external libraries. E.g. mlflow not handling latest protobuff, or a pandas change around period indexes...

Current behavior

If you run the unit tests with a fresh install -- they break.

E.g.
https://github.com/apache/hamilton/actions/runs/21321611114/job/61372444411

ERROR tests/plugins/test_mlflow_extension.py
ERROR tests/test_base.py - TypeError: PeriodIndex.__new__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'year'

E.g. https://github.com/apache/hamilton/actions/runs/21321734923/job/61372823063?pr=1446

Steps to replicate behavior

1. run unit tests with fresh dependencies installed.

Library & System Information

All python versions. Note some tests pass certain versions, others not.

Expected behavior

All tests pass.

Additional context

• hamilton unit tests fail
• sdk unit tests fail

[Exudev]

Hi! I just finished my first contribution to Hamilton and I'd be happy to help with this issue @skrawcz