Feature or enhancement

Remove the bundled setuptools so that ensurepip and python -m venv only installs pip.

Context

The setup.py install command of setuptools is deprecated.

However, in an environment where setuptools is installed but wheel is not (such as one created with python -m venv), pip falls back on running the deprecated and non-standard setup.py install.

Since version 22.1 pip works correctly by default in environments where setuptools is not installed, by enabling its PEP 517 mode automatically, leading to unsurprising installations in most cases.

So, in order to progressively expose more users to standard-based installation workflows, we (the pip team) would like that virtual environments are created without setuptools by default.

Users faced with failing installations following this change (likely due to packages with customized setup.py that do not support building a wheel) can easily pip install setuptools to solve the issue.

Previous discussion

pypa/pip#8102 (comment) and following comments has some more context.

Linked PRs

• gh-95299: Stop installing setuptools as a part of ensurepip and venv #101039
• gh-95299: Rework test_cppext.py to not invoke setup.py directly #103316
• gh-95299: Remove lingering setuptools reference in installer scripts #103613