feat: Use setuptools over setuptools._distutils.core

[matthewfeickert]

Resolves #1830

Drop all usage of setuptools._distutils in favor of pure setuptools. This effectively solves the problems that were present in the attempt in PR #1585 and PR #1700. With this, it is now possible to go further and drop direct usage of distutils in favor of setuptools. This effectively happens with the removal of setuptools._distutils as

try:
    from setuptools import setup, Extension
    ...

should always pass, and so this just makes this explicitly clear by removing the try/except block.

[matthewfeickert]

From the CI we can see this also works with:

• setuptools v39.2.0
• setuptools v59.6.0
• setuptools v65.6.3

[matthewfeickert]

Note that by this change

xrootd/bindings/python/setup.py.in

Lines 7 to 16 in 8e1e528

	# sysconfig v48.0.0+ is incompatible for Python 3.6 only, so fall back to distutils.
	# Instead of checking setuptools.__version__ explicitly, use the knowledge that
	# to get here in the 'try' block requires setuptools v48.0.0+.
	# FIXME: When support for Python 3.6 is dropped simplify this
	import sys
	if sys.version_info < (3, 7):
	from distutils import sysconfig
	else:
	import sysconfig

is no longer explicitly true, so I'm inclined to just remove this comment that I originally wrote and move forward with the

xrootd/bindings/python/setup.py.in

Lines 11 to 16 in 8e1e528

	import sys
	if sys.version_info < (3, 7):
	from distutils import sysconfig
	else:
	import sysconfig

apparently being sufficient.

[matthewfeickert]

@simonmichal this is ready for review.

Reviews welcome from @henryiii, @amadio, and @adriansev as well, as extra eyes and testing configurations are always welcome.

Things will get even simpler when Python 3.6 support is dropped.

[adriansev]

@matthewfeickert Thanks a lot for all the work!! I can only test tomorrow (if not later in the night) but one comment that i would have is that as long GRID (and especially WLCG software) is centos 7 based, the python 3.6 compatibility MUST be preserved (IMHO).

[matthewfeickert]

but one comment that i would have is that as long GRID (and especially WLCG software) is centos 7 based, the python 3.6 compatibility MUST be preserved (IMHO).

I don't claim to have any idea how difficult it is to try to keep things like WLCG up let alone running as well as it does (I know it is super hard and that people work tirelessly with no thanks to make this happen), but as a field we should not be happy to keep using EOL software indefinitely.

$ pipx install norwegianblue
$ eol python
| cycle |  release   | latest | latest release |    eol     |
|:------|:----------:|:-------|:--------------:|:----------:|
| 3.11  | 2022-10-24 | 3.11.0 |   2022-10-24   | 2027-10-24 |
| 3.10  | 2021-10-04 | 3.10.8 |   2022-10-11   | 2026-10-04 |
| 3.9   | 2020-10-05 | 3.9.15 |   2022-10-11   | 2025-10-05 |
| 3.8   | 2019-10-14 | 3.8.15 |   2022-10-11   | 2024-10-14 |
| 3.7   | 2018-06-26 | 3.7.15 |   2022-10-10   | 2023-06-27 |
| 3.6   | 2016-12-22 | 3.6.15 |   2021-09-03   | 2021-12-23 |
| 3.5   | 2015-09-12 | 3.5.10 |   2020-09-05   | 2020-09-13 |
| 3.4   | 2014-03-15 | 3.4.10 |   2019-03-18   | 2019-03-18 |
| 3.3   | 2012-09-29 | 3.3.7  |   2017-09-19   | 2017-09-29 |
| 2.7   | 2010-07-03 | 2.7.18 |   2020-04-19   | 2020-01-01 |
| 2.6   | 2008-10-01 | 2.6.9  |   2013-10-29   | 2013-10-29 |
$ eol centos
| cycle    |  release   | latest   |  support   |    eol     | link                                                      |
|:---------|:----------:|:---------|:----------:|:----------:|:----------------------------------------------------------|
| 9        | 2021-09-15 | 9        | 2027-05-31 | 2027-05-31 |                                                           |
| stream-8 | 2019-09-24 | 8        | 2024-05-31 | 2024-05-31 | https://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOSStream |
| 8        | 2019-09-24 | 8 (2111) | 2021-12-31 | 2021-12-31 | https://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS8.2111 |
| 7        | 2014-07-07 | 7 (2009) | 2020-08-06 | 2024-06-30 | https://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS7.2009 |
| 6        | 2011-07-10 | 6.10     | 2017-05-10 | 2020-11-30 | https://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS6.10   |

But that's all I'll say here, especially as the two of us have discussed these ideas before and this PR does nothing to Python 3.6. :)

[adriansev]

@matthewfeickert

But that's all I'll say here, especially as the two of us have discussed these ideas before and this PR does nothing to Python 3.6. :)

yeah, exactly :) it was just a comment and, for the sake of completeness, i must state that i mentioned that for the sake of generic usage as from experiment point of view we (ALICE) moved already to 3.9
and yupii, all checks are green :)

[amadio]

Looks good to me. Thanks.

[simonmichal]

@matthewfeickert : thanks a lot for the PR, looks good :-)