Latest setuptools 70.0.0 not compatible with nerfstudio after running pip install --upgrade pip setuptools

[abrahamezzeddine]

Describe the bug
Latest setuptools 70.0.0 is not compatible with nerfstudio and generates an error when a training is initiated.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\runpy.py", line 194, in _run_module_as_main
return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\runpy.py", line 87, in run_code
exec(code, run_globals)
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\Scripts\ns-train.exe_main.py", line 7, in
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\scripts\train.py", line 262, in entrypoint
main(
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\scripts\train.py", line 247, in main
launch(
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\scripts\train.py", line 189, in launch
main_func(local_rank=0, world_size=world_size, config=config)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\scripts\train.py", line 100, in train_loop
trainer.train()
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\engine\trainer.py", line 261, in train
loss, loss_dict, metrics_dict = self.train_iteration(step)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\utils\profiler.py", line 112, in inner
out = func(*args, **kwargs)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\engine\trainer.py", line 496, in train_iteration
_, loss_dict, metrics_dict = self.pipeline.get_train_loss_dict(step=step)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\utils\profiler.py", line 112, in inner
out = func(*args, **kwargs)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\pipelines\base_pipeline.py", line 301, in get_train_loss_dict
model_outputs = self._model(ray_bundle) # train distributed data parallel model if world_size > 1
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\torch\nn\modules\module.py", line 1518, in _wrapped_call_impl
return self._call_impl(*args, **kwargs)
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\torch\nn\modules\module.py", line 1527, in _call_impl
return forward_call(*args, **kwargs)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\models\base_model.py", line 143, in forward
return self.get_outputs(ray_bundle)
File "C:\nerf\nerfstudio\nerfstudio\models\splatfacto.py", line 738, in get_outputs
self.xys, depths, self.radii, conics, comp, num_tiles_hit, cov3d = project_gaussians( # type: ignore
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\gsplat\project_gaussians.py", line 61, in project_gaussians
return _ProjectGaussians.apply(
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\torch\autograd\function.py", line 539, in apply
return super().apply(*args, **kwargs) # type: ignore[misc]
File "C:\Users\hus.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\gsplat\project_gaussians.py", line 110, in forward
) = C.project_gaussians_forward(
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\gsplat\cuda_init.py", line 7, in call_cuda
from ._backend import _C
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\gsplat\cuda_backend.py", line 8, in
from torch.utils.cpp_extension import get_build_directory, load
File "C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\torch\utils\cpp_extension.py", line 28, in
from pkg_resources import packaging # type: ignore[attr-defined]
ImportError: cannot import name 'packaging' from 'pkg_resources' (C:\Users\hu.conda\envs\nerfstudio\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources_init.py)

To Reproduce
Do pip install --upgrade pip setuptools to upgrade to setuptools 70.0.0

Expected behavior
Training proceeding accordingly.

Additional context
Issue is solved by downgrading setuptools to pip install setuptools==69.x.x such as 69.5.1
After that everything will work again.