[BUG] 60.1.0: Installing mpi4py fails with latest setuptools

setuptools version

60.1.0

Python version

3.8

OS

Linux (Ubuntu)

Additional environment information

No response

Description

Installing mpi4py started to fail with the release of setuptools==60.1.0. It works with setuptools==60.0.4. Is 60.1.0 expected to be a breaking release version?

$ pip install -v mpi4py
Using pip 21.3.1 from .../venv-mpi4py/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip (python 3.8)
Collecting mpi4py
  Using cached mpi4py-3.1.3.tar.gz (2.5 MB)
  Running command .../venv-mpi4py/bin/python /tmp/pip-standalone-pip-fmkquq0f/__env_pip__.zip/pip install --ignore-installed --no-user --prefix /tmp/pip-build-env-nun8azx9/overlay --no-warn-script-location --no-binary :none: --only-binary :none: -i https://pypi.org/simple -- 'setuptools >= 40.9.0' wheel
  Collecting setuptools>=40.9.0
    Using cached setuptools-60.1.0-py3-none-any.whl (952 kB)
  Collecting wheel
    Using cached wheel-0.37.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl (35 kB)
  Installing collected packages: wheel, setuptools
  Successfully installed setuptools-60.1.0 wheel-0.37.1
  Installing build dependencies ... done
  Running command .../venv-mpi4py/bin/python .../venv-mpi4py/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py get_requires_for_build_wheel /tmp/tmputajppc5
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File ".../venv-mpi4py/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py", line 363, in <module>
      main()
    File ".../venv-mpi4py/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py", line 345, in main
      json_out['return_val'] = hook(**hook_input['kwargs'])
    File ".../venv-mpi4py/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py", line 130, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
      return hook(config_settings)
    File "/tmp/pip-build-env-nun8azx9/overlay/lib/python3.8/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 162, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
      return self._get_build_requires(
    File "/tmp/pip-build-env-nun8azx9/overlay/lib/python3.8/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 143, in _get_build_requires
      self.run_setup()
    File "/tmp/pip-build-env-nun8azx9/overlay/lib/python3.8/site-packages/setuptools/build_meta.py", line 158, in run_setup
      exec(compile(code, __file__, 'exec'), locals())
    File "setup.py", line 462, in <module>
      from mpidistutils import setup
    File "/tmp/pip-install-k7kbt967/mpi4py_fa187d0418384267943227507227365d/conf/mpidistutils.py", line 29, in <module>
      cygcc_get_versions = cygcc.get_versions
  AttributeError: module 'setuptools._distutils.cygwinccompiler' has no attribute 'get_versions'
  Getting requirements to build wheel ... error

Something must have changed in setuptools that broke mpi4py/conf/mpidistutils.py.

Expected behavior

Installing the package mpi4py should work as with setuptools 60.0.x, given this is a minor version increment.

How to Reproduce

pip install --upgrade pip setuptools pip install mpi4py

Output

  AttributeError: module 'setuptools._distutils.cygwinccompiler' has no attribute 'get_versions'

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the PSF Code of Conduct

[jaraco]

I’m going to go ahead and apply the patch I proposed above.

[jaraco]

It sounds like the use-case for mpi4py is simply to monkeypatch, so I’d not bother restoring the implementation. I’d just create an attribute with a comment:

get_versions = None
"""
A stand-in for the previous get_versions() function to prevent failures
when monkeypatched. See pypa/setuptools#2969.
"""