new version of pip 22.2.1 breaks when used with old setuptools

[bdrosen96]

Description

With setup tools 36.0.1:

running:

python3 -m pip install -U pip
python3 -m pip install -U poetry==1.1.13

gets:

14:16:36  ERROR: Exception:
14:16:36  Traceback (most recent call last):
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/base_command.py", line 167, in exc_logging_wrapper
14:16:36      status = run_func(*args)
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 247, in wrapper
14:16:36      return func(self, options, args)
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 461, in run
14:16:36      installed = install_given_reqs(
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/req/__init__.py", line 73, in install_given_reqs
14:16:36      requirement.install(
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/req/req_install.py", line 752, in install
14:16:36      scheme = get_scheme(
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/locations/__init__.py", line 244, in get_scheme
14:16:36      from . import _distutils
14:16:36    File "/home/jenkins-slave/.jarvis/virtualenvs/executor-0/DataManagement/data-mesh/master_kernelbatchsvc-release-image/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py", line 13, in <module>
14:16:36      __import__("_distutils_hack").remove_shim()
14:16:36  AttributeError: module '_distutils_hack' has no attribute 'remove_shim'

Expected behavior

Code handles both AttributeError and ImportError as it did before: #11298

pip version

22.2.1

Python version

3.8.12

OS

Linux

How to Reproduce

python3 -m pip install setuptools==36.0.1
python3 -m pip install -U pip
python3 -m pip install -U poetry==1.1.13

Output

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the PSF Code of Conduct.

[pradyunsg]

Thanks for filing this issue!

Is there a reason to not update setuptools alongside pip? I don’t think we want to be maintaining support for arbitrarily old versions of setuptools, and I’m pretty sure that version of setuptools will not work with the latest pip correctly either.

[bdrosen96]

I'm currently trying to upgrade the setup tools in the script in question (it is done that way in most of our scripts, but there are a few that did not do so and instead used the default setuptools that existed in the jenkins environment).

It still seems like it would be worth a small fix to handle both exception types instead of just the one since this worked fine with 22.2. ie:

try:
    __import__("_distutils_hack").remove_shim()
except (ImportError, AttributeError):
    pass

[pradyunsg]

Thanks. I just find it weird that someone would intentionally want to do something like that. :)

small fix to handle both exception types

Yup yup, and a PR for that would be welcome.

[bdrosen96]

I don't seem to have permission to create a PR in the repo. Is there a different process to generate PRs?

[pfmoore]

Have you created your own fork, created a branch there, and tried to make a PR from that branch? That should work. If you're trying to create a branch directly in this repo, that won't work.

[bdrosen96]

#11315

[sbidoul]

Resolved in #11315