Timeline for error on direct setup.py invokations?

[astrojuanlu]

I'm thrilled to read that setuptools has deprecated direct setup.py invokations, thanks a lot!

Is there a timeline for this to raise an error?

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For the record, I already proposed that Read the Docs caps the setuptools version readthedocs/readthedocs.org#8711 to guard ourselves of a future release of setuptools that breaks backwards compatibility.

[jaraco]

Thanks for asking.

Given that these invocations are so pervasive, I would expect the deprecation to be around for some time. It likely will not be before pip releases --use-pep517 by default (and thus its implicit invocation of setup.py egg_info/install) and that's been in the wild for some time.

For that reason, it's possible, even likely, that Setuptools will release backward-incompatible releases for other reasons (at least one being #2896, so use that to inform your decision about pinning Setuptools. Still, I would not be offended if you choose to pin Setuptools and explicitly unpin at each major version release (where appropriate).

If it would help give some predictability, I'd be happy to put a comment next to the deprecation warning to guard against removal before a certain date.

[astrojuanlu]

Thanks a lot for the prompt reply @jaraco, sounds good to me. xref pypa/pip#9175 for the transition to --use-pep517 by default.

For Read the Docs, we will probably pin at 58.3.0, since users can install newer versions if they want anyway. This will only affect the defaults, and avoid unexpected breakage even if we miss an important setuptools change.