Drop setuptools runtime dependency?

[crusaderky]

• Follow-up from drop pkg_resources in favour of importlib.metadata #5923

Now that we no longer use pkg_resources, can we drop the run-time dependency from setuptools altogether?

I see it used:

• in setup.py (which is not runtime)
• in versioneer.py, with a fallback to distutils if it's not already loaded. Unsure about the implications of this.
• in a single test (test_upload_file_egg) which could have pytest.importorskip

Notably, setuptools is already not in requirements.txt. However, I can see it in the conda recipe:

run:
    [...]
    - setuptools <60.0.0

Not sure why? xref #5802 where it was added.

CC @graingert @charlesbluca

[charlesbluca]

I did this to match up with a change made to the conda-forge feedstock: conda-forge/distributed-feedstock#192

cc @jsignell do we need to keep this constraint?

[jsignell]

setuptools was already in the conda-forge recipe I just set a ceiling for it in conda-forge/distributed-feedstock#194 it would not surprise me if we don't in fact need it in the feedstock.

[jakirkham]

Right I think this was due to the pkg_resources as @crusaderky points out. If we no longer need pkg_resources, then yes we should be able to drop setuptools as a dependency.

As to the version constraint on setuptools, there were a bunch of changes in 60.0.0, which broke various packages (distributed being one). So it was constrained. Again shouldn't be relevant if we are no longer using pkg_resources.

As to the egg case, I thought the optional PipInstall WorkerPlugin superseded that, but maybe I'm missing something there.

Anyways +1 on dropping setuptools

[jakirkham]

Done in PR ( #5963 )

[jsignell]

I didn't change the distributed-feedstock, but I am happy to in the next release. Nevermind! I see that @jakirkham dropped it before merging 👍