Notwithstanding that these shouldn't be in use, in practice these appear to be used by cffi, and thus this change breaks cffi: https://github.com/python-cffi/cffi/blob/main/src/cffi/_shimmed_dist_utils.py#L33

I'll file a cffi bug about fixing this.

It also broke gnome: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gobject-introspection/-/issues/515

broke pygame

broke pygame

If you have a reference to the downstream report, that would be helpful to follow. I looked briefly into the other issues and I don't think there's anything this project should do, though I could consider re-adding some interfaces to restore compatibility for a limited duration, but only if there's a compelling case. In general, I expect users reliant on these older modules to be in a precarious state anyhow.

For pygame the setuptools for windows msvc compilers have been pinned to previous setuptools version. I haven't looked yet on how to update the code which uses the compiler yet. It's here if you're interested: https://github.com/pygame/pygame/blob/main/buildconfig/vstools.py

I know not everyone can pin their packages to previous versions of setuptools. But for anyone that can pin whilst they fix, I wrote instructions here: pypa/setuptools#4620 (comment)

Looks like the cffi "usage" is an ancient and mostly-dead monkeypatch- spinning an updated CFFI release now that makes the import/patch optional until we're sure it's "all dead" and can go through its pockets for loose change 😉.