Description

sbidoul

opened on Jul 26, 2022

Issue body actions

Feature or enhancement

Remove the bundled setuptools so that ensurepip and python -m venv only installs pip.

Context

The setup.py install command of setuptools is deprecated.

However, in an environment where setuptools is installed but wheel is not (such as one created with python -m venv), pip falls back on running the deprecated and non-standard setup.py install.

Since version 22.1 pip works correctly by default in environments where setuptools is not installed, by enabling its PEP 517 mode automatically, leading to unsurprising installations in most cases.

So, in order to progressively expose more users to standard-based installation workflows, we (the pip team) would like that virtual environments are created without setuptools by default.

Users faced with failing installations following this change (likely due to packages with customized setup.py that do not support building a wheel) can easily pip install setuptools to solve the issue.

Previous discussion

pypa/pip#8102 (comment) and following comments has some more context.

Linked PRs

• gh-95299: Stop installing setuptools as a part of ensurepip and venv #101039
• gh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to not invoke setup.py directly #103316
• gh-95299: Remove lingering setuptools reference in installer scripts #103613

Reacted by Zachary Ware, Miro Hrončok, Andrii Oriekhov, Alex Waygood, Jakub Kuczys, Pierre, Ed Morley and Cuong Nguyen Minh Tran Manh

Activity

1. sbidoul

   added

   type-featureA feature request or enhancementA feature request or enhancement

   on Jul 26, 2022
2. sbidoul commented on Jul 26, 2022

   

   sbidoul

   on Jul 26, 2022

   ContributorAuthor

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   @pablogsal do you think it is still acceptable to do this in 3.11? If positive we can likely land a PR on time for RC1.
3. pablogsal commented on Jul 26, 2022

   

   pablogsal

   on Jul 26, 2022

   Member

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   Unfortunately I don't feel comfortable landing this so late in the release cycle, specially so close to RC1 and given the current stability of 3.11 :(

   This will need to wait until 3.12.

   Reacted by Stéphane Bidoul, Jelle Zijlstra, Alex Prengère, Pradyun Gedam, Kamyar Ghanbarpour and Pat Myron
4. hugovk

   added

   3.12only security fixesonly security fixes

   on Jul 26, 2022
5. rafrafek commented on Nov 7, 2022

   

   rafrafek

   on Nov 7, 2022

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   It feels strange that setuptools is included when using -m venv, but wheel is not included.
6. pradyunsg commented on Jan 14, 2023

   

   pradyunsg

   on Jan 14, 2023

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   I've filed #101039 for this (almost had a number with three 0s), targetting 3.12.

   Reacted by Stéphane Bidoul
7. pradyunsg

   added

   topic-ensurepip

   on Feb 21, 2023
8. edmorley commented on Feb 23, 2023

   

   edmorley

   on Feb 23, 2023

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   Since version 22.1 pip works correctly by default in environments where setuptools is not installed, by enabling its PEP 517 mode automatically, leading to unsurprising installations in most cases.

   Do you have some examples of cases where the PEP 517 mode doesn't work for legacy packages? :-)
9. FFY00 commented on Mar 4, 2023

   

   FFY00

   on Mar 4, 2023

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   PEP 517 is backwards compatible, it should work on legacy packages, the opposite is the issue, pip trying to use the legacy path for packages that need PEP 517.
10. pradyunsg

    added 6 commits that reference this issue on Apr 6, 2023

    pythongh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to not invoke setup.py directly

    41c5a66

    Revert "pythongh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to not invoke setup.py …

    d79d6a6

    # This is a combination of 3 commits.

    662900c

    pythongh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to use explicitly in a tempdir

    02d8a63

    pythongh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to use explicitly in a tempdir

    846a148

    gh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to not invoke setup.py directly (#103316

    9e67740
11. 63 remaining items
12. commodo

    added a commit that references this issue on Dec 27, 2024

    python3: bump to version 3.13

    14b36b7
13. ccronca

    added a commit that references this issue on Feb 25, 2025

    fix: Explicitly install setuptools for Python 3.12 compatibility

    9b04a29
14. josephwkania

    added a commit that references this issue on Apr 16, 2025

    Fix: Add setuptools as a requirement, as it is no longer bundled post…

    f531fca
15. purajit

    added a commit that references this issue on May 1, 2025

    Include setuptools as a dependency for python>=3.12

    ef5b43a
16. commodo

    added a commit that references this issue on May 14, 2025

    python3: bump to version 3.13.3

    5a904f9
17. cclauss

    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 15, 2025

    pip install 'setuptools;python_version >= "3.12"'

    4cc656e
18. aroon-color

    added a commit that references this issue on Aug 5, 2025

    Include setuptools as a dependency for python>=3.12

    4ae75fa
19. commodo

    added a commit that references this issue on Aug 18, 2025

    python3: bump to version 3.13.3

    1a8f815
20. commodo

    added a commit that references this issue on Sep 23, 2025

    python3: bump to version 3.13.7

    2dc2778
21. neon-smith-tsmmn

    added a commit that references this issue on Sep 27, 2025

    crytic_compile: replace pkg_resources dependency with importlib

    41f8fb4
22. commodo

    added a commit that references this issue on Oct 31, 2025

    python3: bump to version 3.13.7

    d4fcd20
23. commodo

    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Nov 7, 2025

    python3: bump to version 3.13.9

    89027d3

    python3: bump to version 3.13.9

    48393da

    python3: bump to version 3.13.9

    9ec6917
24. hnyman

    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 8, 2025

    python3: bump to version 3.13.9

    97a92f2

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