Originally reported by: vernondcole (Bitbucket: vernondcole, GitHub: vernondcole)

I have been under the false impression that setuptools could not be used with IronPython -- which caused me no small problem when trying to configure more complex systems.
Today, I learned that by simply appending a command line switch, IronPython will play happily with the current version.

I suggest trapping the error with a friendly exception message making that fact known to affected users.

• Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/pypa/setuptools/issue/177