pip imports the deprecated distutils module

Description

The pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py file imports the distutils module: https://github.com/pypa/pip/blob/cb24fb4052ca8ab8009866b0de61980c81a7e13c/src/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py#L9-L12

This module is deprecated since Python 3.10 and is going to be removed in Python 3.12: https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/92584#issue-1230326042

Expected behavior

No response

pip version

22.0.4

Python version

3.12.0a0

OS

Linux

How to Reproduce

1. Build Python 3.12 with https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/92585 PR
2. Create a venv without pip: ./python -m venv env
3. Install pip: ./env/bin/python -m ensurepip -v

Output

vstinner@apu$ ./env/bin/python -m ensurepip -v
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 6, in <module>
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/runpy.py", line 226, in run_module
    return _run_module_code(code, init_globals, run_name, mod_spec)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/runpy.py", line 98, in _run_module_code
    _run_code(code, mod_globals, init_globals,
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/runpy.py", line 88, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/__main__.py", line 29, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/cli/main.py", line 9, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/cli/autocompletion.py", line 10, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/cli/main_parser.py", line 8, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py", line 23, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/cli/parser.py", line 12, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/configuration.py", line 26, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/utils/logging.py", line 27, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/utils/misc.py", line 39, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/locations/__init__.py", line 14, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py", line 9, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/runpy.py", line 198, in _run_module_as_main
    return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/runpy.py", line 88, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/ensurepip/__main__.py", line 5, in <module>
    sys.exit(ensurepip._main())
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/ensurepip/__init__.py", line 276, in _main
    return _bootstrap(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/ensurepip/__init__.py", line 192, in _bootstrap
    return _run_pip([*args, *_PACKAGE_NAMES], additional_paths)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/ensurepip/__init__.py", line 92, in _run_pip
    return subprocess.run([sys.executable, '-W', 'ignore::DeprecationWarning',
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/vstinner/python/main/Lib/subprocess.py", line 558, in run
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['/home/vstinner/python/main/env/bin/python', '-W', 'ignore::DeprecationWarning', '-c', '\nimport runpy\nimport sys\nsys.path = [\'/tmp/tmps2pazori/setuptools-58.1.0-py3-none-any.whl\', \'/tmp/tmps2pazori/pip-22.0.4-py3-none-any.whl\'] + sys.path\nsys.argv[1:] = [\'install\', \'--no-cache-dir\', \'--no-index\', \'--find-links\', \'/tmp/tmps2pazori\', \'-v\', \'setuptools\', \'pip\']\nrunpy.run_module("pip", run_name="__main__", alter_sys=True)\n']' returned non-zero exit status 1.

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the PSF Code of Conduct.

[uranusjr]

I’ll try to find some time this weekend.

[sbidoul]

Unless someone plans to work on this in the coming days, I’m going to push this to down to 22.3.