"RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded" during setup

[martinthurn]

On a very new (fresh, almost virgin) Ubuntu 16.04 system, when I run sudo python setup.py install, I get an infinite loop:

File "/usr/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py", line 287, in init
self.finalize_options()
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 389, in finalize_options
ep.require(installer=self.fetch_build_egg)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 2324, in require
items = working_set.resolve(reqs, env, installer, extras=self.extras)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 851, in resolve
dist = best[req.key] = env.best_match(req, ws, installer)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 1123, in best_match
return self.obtain(req, installer)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 1135, in obtain
return installer(requirement)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 420, in fetch_build_egg
dist = self.class({'script_args': ['easy_install']})
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 321, in init
_Distribution.init(self, attrs)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py", line 287, in init
self.finalize_options()
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 389, in finalize_options
ep.require(installer=self.fetch_build_egg)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 2324, in require
items = working_set.resolve(reqs, env, installer, extras=self.extras)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 840, in resolve
if dist is None or (dist not in req and replace_conflicting):
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 2926, in contains
return self.specifier.contains(item, prereleases=True)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/packaging/specifiers.py", line 726, in contains
for s in self._specs
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/packaging/specifiers.py", line 726, in
for s in self._specs
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/packaging/specifiers.py", line 180, in contains
return self._get_operator(self.operator)(item, self.version)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/packaging/specifiers.py", line 271, in wrapped
return fn(self, prospective, spec)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/packaging/specifiers.py", line 458, in _compare_greater_than_equal
return prospective >= Version(spec)
File "/home/martin/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/packaging/version.py", line 207, in init
release=tuple(int(i) for i in match.group("release").split(".")),
RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded