Fix the setuptools distutils overriding issue (#28393)

* Fix the distutil install issue

* Try to move setuptools install forward

* Try pin the distribution tools

* Enforce local distutil

* Fix script order of definition

* Add comment

* Try to fix the setuptool monkey patch

* Clean-up imports for commands.py

* Pin 59.6.0 instead of 59.7.0 (incomplete release)

setup.py

@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 """A setup module for the GRPC Python package."""
 
-# setuptools need to be imported before distutils. Otherwise it might lead to
-# undesirable behaviors or errors.
+# NOTE(https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/24028): allow setuptools to monkey
+# patch distutils
 import setuptools  # isort:skip
 
 # Monkey Patch the unix compiler to accept ASM

src/python/grpcio/commands.py

@@ -13,26 +13,21 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 """Provides distutils command classes for the GRPC Python setup process."""
 
-from __future__ import print_function
+# NOTE(https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/24028): allow setuptools to monkey
+# patch distutils
+import setuptools  # isort:skip
 
-import distutils
 import glob
 import os
 import os.path
-import platform
-import re
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import sysconfig
 import traceback
 
-import setuptools
 from setuptools.command import build_ext
 from setuptools.command import build_py
-from setuptools.command import easy_install
-from setuptools.command import install
-from setuptools.command import test
 import support
 
 PYTHON_STEM = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_python.sh

@@ -150,10 +150,21 @@ else
   VENV_PYTHON=$(script_realpath "$VENV/$VENV_RELATIVE_PYTHON")
 fi
 
-# See https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/14815 for more context. We cannot rely
-# on pip to upgrade itself because if pip is too old, it may not have the required
-# TLS version to run `pip install`.
-curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py | $VENV_PYTHON
+
+# On library/version/platforms combo that do not have a binary
+# published, we may end up building a dependency from source. In that
+# case, several of our build environment variables may disrupt the
+# third-party build process. This function pipes through only the
+# minimal environment necessary.
+pip_install() {
+  /usr/bin/env -i PATH="$PATH" "$VENV_PYTHON" -m pip install "$@"
+}
+
+# Pin setuptools to < 60.0.0 to restore the distutil installation, see:
+# https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/pull/2896
+export SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS=stdlib
+pip_install --upgrade pip==21.3.1
+pip_install --upgrade setuptools==59.6.0
 
 # pip-installs the directory specified. Used because on MSYS the vanilla Windows
 # Python gets confused when parsing paths.
@@ -165,15 +176,6 @@ pip_install_dir() {
   cd "$PWD"
 }
 
-# On library/version/platforms combo that do not have a binary
-# published, we may end up building a dependency from source. In that
-# case, several of our build environment variables may disrupt the
-# third-party build process. This function pipes through only the
-# minimal environment necessary.
-pip_install() {
-  /usr/bin/env -i PATH="$PATH" "$VENV_PYTHON" -m pip install "$@"
-}
-
 case "$VENV" in
   *py36_gevent*)
   # TODO(https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/15411) unpin this
@@ -185,8 +187,6 @@ case "$VENV" in
 esac
 
 
-pip_install --upgrade setuptools==44.1.1
-pip_install --upgrade pip==19.3.1
 pip_install --upgrade cython
 pip_install --upgrade six protobuf