mne depends on setuptools without declaring it as a dependecy, which can break build backends other than setuptools #11448
Description
Description of the problem
Without declaring setuptools as a dependency, mne imports pkg_resources, which is a part of setuptools, in at least one place:
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/normal/lib/python3.9/site-packages/mne/datasets/eegbci/eegbci.py", line 8, in <module>
import pkg_resources
In my case this leads to the following problem: I have written a package that depends on mne and that I package with flit, i.e. my package is fully independent of setuptools. When I try to install my package (with the flit_core build backend instead of setuptools) I get the following error:
pip install .[test]
Processing /home/pzr
Installing build dependencies ... done
Getting requirements to build wheel ... done
Installing backend dependencies ... done
Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) ... error
error: subprocess-exited-with-error
× Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> [38 lines of output]
Unexpected names under [project]: requires_python
[pyhelpers] SSL verification check: SSL verification failed.
[pyhelpers] Adding FhG certificate bundle to the certificate store.
[pyhelpers] Checking again: SSL verification works, continuing.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py", line 363, in <module>
main()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py", line 345, in main
json_out['return_val'] = hook(**hook_input['kwargs'])
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pep517/in_process/_in_process.py", line 164, in prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel
return hook(metadata_directory, config_settings)
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/overlay/lib/python3.9/site-packages/flit_core/buildapi.py", line 49, in prepare_metadata_for_build_wheel
metadata = make_metadata(module, ini_info)
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/overlay/lib/python3.9/site-packages/flit_core/common.py", line 410, in make_metadata
md_dict.update(get_info_from_module(module, ini_info.dynamic_metadata))
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/overlay/lib/python3.9/site-packages/flit_core/common.py", line 207, in get_info_from_module
docstring, version = get_docstring_and_version_via_import(target)
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/overlay/lib/python3.9/site-packages/flit_core/common.py", line 180, in get_docstring_and_version_via_import
spec.loader.exec_module(m)
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 850, in exec_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 228, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "/home/pzr/src/pyhelpers/__init__.py", line 3, in <module>
from . import constants, fileio, neuro, plotting, sigproc, string
File "/home/pzr/src/pyhelpers/sigproc/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
from . import eeg
File "/home/pzr/src/pyhelpers/sigproc/eeg/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
from ._eeg import (create_eeg_raw_array, drop_channels, filter_eeg,
File "/home/pzr/src/pyhelpers/sigproc/eeg/_eeg.py", line 4, in <module>
from mne import create_info
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/normal/lib/python3.9/site-packages/mne/__init__.py", line 111, in <module>
from . import datasets
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/normal/lib/python3.9/site-packages/mne/datasets/__init__.py", line 10, in <module>
from . import eegbci
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/normal/lib/python3.9/site-packages/mne/datasets/eegbci/__init__.py", line 3, in <module>
from .eegbci import data_path, load_data, standardize
File "/tmp/pip-build-env-t3o1ln7x/normal/lib/python3.9/site-packages/mne/datasets/eegbci/eegbci.py", line 8, in <module>
import pkg_resources
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pkg_resources'
[end of output]
The problem is solved by declaring setuptools as a dependency in my own package, which I would prefer not having to do for obvious reasons. I understand that setuptools has been the de-facto standard for many years and that one could just assume that pretty much every package will be installed in an environment where it is present. But lately a lot of people have been moving away from setuptools, so if you depend on it I think you should explicitly declare it as a dependency in mne.
Steps to reproduce
Write a package with a build backend other than setuptools and have it depend on mne.
Link to data
No response
Expected results
Package can be installed with build backend other than setuptools.
Actual results
Package can't be installed.
Additional information
(This is on a Gitlab runner, so not sure how helpful this is)
Platform: Linux-3.10.0-1160.15.2.el7.x86_64-x86_64-with-glibc2.31
Python: 3.9.16 (main, Jan 23 2023, 23:35:25) [GCC 10.2.1 20210110]
Executable: /usr/local/bin/python
CPU: : 20 cores
Memory: Unavailable (requires "psutil" package)
mne: 1.3.0
numpy: 1.24.1 {unknown linalg bindings (threadpoolctl module not found: No module named 'threadpoolctl')}
scipy: 1.10.0
matplotlib: 3.6.3 {backend=agg}
sklearn: Not found
numba: Not found
nibabel: Not found
nilearn: Not found
dipy: Not found
openmeeg: Not found
cupy: Not found
pandas: Not found
pyvista: Not found
pyvistaqt: Not found
ipyvtklink: Not found
vtk: Not found
qtpy: Not found
ipympl: Not found
pyqtgraph: Not found
pooch: v1.6.0
mne_bids: Not found
mne_nirs: Not found
mne_features: Not found
mne_qt_browser: Not found
mne_connectivity: Not found
mne_icalabel: Not found