Import setuptools before distutils

[stefanor]

setuptools 60 uses its own bundled version of distutils, by default. It injects this into sys.modules, at import time. So we need to make sure that it is imported, before anything else imports distutils, to ensure everything is using the same distutils version.

This change in setuptools is to prepare for Python 3.12, which will drop distutils.

Fixes: https://bugs.debian.org/1022491

[DjLegolas]

I don't think we need this fix, or at least not in the current state:

1. it breaks linting tests.
2. when I have imported distutils when I had an old version of setuptools, the imported package was from the stdlib.
   after updating setuptools to latest, and doing the same, I got distutils from the setuptools package.

anyway, I might be mistaken.
and of curse, thanks for this 😄

[stefanor]

after updating setuptools to latest, and doing the same, I got distutils from the setuptools package.

That depends on whether you have already imported setuptools or not. When you import it, it injects its distutils module into sys.modules.

[stefanor]

Obviously the best change to make is to replace any distutils imports with something from pure setuptools.

[DjLegolas]

after updating setuptools to latest, and doing the same, I got distutils from the setuptools package.

That depends on whether you have already imported setuptools or not. When you import it, it injects its distutils module into sys.modules.

Well, I don't see this behavior, (tested also on ubuntu):

C:\Users\dj_le>py
Python 3.10.6 (tags/v3.10.6:9c7b4bd, Aug  1 2022, 21:53:49) [MSC v.1932 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import distutils
>>> distutils.__file__
'C:\\Python310\\lib\\site-packages\\setuptools\\_distutils\\__init__.py'
>>>

Obviously the best change to make is to replace any distutils imports with something from pure setuptools.

Agreed. But not all of the functionality is supported by setuptools yet, i.e. all of the distutils.commands we use in deluge

[stefanor]

Well, I don't see this behavior, (tested also on ubuntu):

Thanks, I had been surprised that I was in the vanguard of filing these issues. But I see now that Debian is missing distutils-precedence.pth that does the magic to hook distutils at interpreter startup time. Obviously at a small performance penalty.

So, you won't see it unless you have setuptools > 60 and don't have distutils-precedence.pth.

If you do want to reproduce the issue, use Debian unstable outside a virtualenv. Or remove distutils-precedence.pth from the virtualenv.

I totally understand if you don't take the patch, because this is a bug in Debian, I'd say it is, I just filed https://bugs.debian.org/1025216

[cas--]

Thanks for providing a potential fix, I was surprised that a fragile import order change was required. Based on your latest findings I feel it probably is better that debian fixes the issue rather than attempt to fix every project importing distutils.

Decomposing the setup.py file and replacing distutils has been on my mind for a long time but not got around to it...