diff --git a/mesonbuild/cmake/interpreter.py b/mesonbuild/cmake/interpreter.py
index 05169478e..f404109cf 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/cmake/interpreter.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/cmake/interpreter.py
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 # This class contains the basic functionality needed to run any interpreter
 # or an interpreter-based tool.
 
-import pkg_resources
-
 from .common import CMakeException, CMakeTarget, TargetOptions
 from .client import CMakeClient, RequestCMakeInputs, RequestConfigure, RequestCompute, RequestCodeModel
 from .fileapi import CMakeFileAPI
@@ -25,6 +23,7 @@ from .traceparser import CMakeTraceParser, CMakeGeneratorTarget
 from .. import mlog, mesonlib
 from ..environment import Environment
 from ..mesonlib import MachineChoice, OrderedSet, version_compare
+from ..mesondata import mesondata
 from ..compilers.compilers import lang_suffixes, header_suffixes, obj_suffixes, lib_suffixes, is_header
 from enum import Enum
 from functools import lru_cache
@@ -814,7 +813,7 @@ class CMakeInterpreter:
             raise CMakeException('Unable to find CMake')
         self.trace = CMakeTraceParser(cmake_exe.version(), self.build_dir, permissive=True)
 
-        preload_file = pkg_resources.resource_filename('mesonbuild', 'cmake/data/preload.cmake')
+        preload_file = mesondata['cmake/data/preload.cmake'].write_to_private(self.env)
 
         # Prefere CMAKE_PROJECT_INCLUDE over CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE if possible,
         # since CMAKE_PROJECT_INCLUDE was actually designed for code injection.
diff --git a/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py b/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py
index 23701da95..4c9c9fe18 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ import typing as T
 from enum import Enum
 from pathlib import Path, PurePath
 
-import pkg_resources
-
 from .. import mlog
 from .. import mesonlib
 from ..compilers import clib_langs
@@ -40,6 +38,7 @@ from ..cmake import CMakeExecutor, CMakeTraceParser, CMakeException
 from ..mesonlib import MachineChoice, MesonException, OrderedSet, PerMachine
 from ..mesonlib import Popen_safe, version_compare_many, version_compare, listify, stringlistify, extract_as_list, split_args
 from ..mesonlib import Version, LibType
+from ..mesondata import mesondata
 
 if T.TYPE_CHECKING:
     from ..compilers.compilers import CompilerType  # noqa: F401
@@ -1512,8 +1511,7 @@ class CMakeDependency(ExternalDependency):
         build_dir = self._get_build_dir()
 
         # Insert language parameters into the CMakeLists.txt and write new CMakeLists.txt
-        # Per the warning in pkg_resources, this is *not* a path and os.path and Pathlib are *not* safe to use here.
-        cmake_txt = pkg_resources.resource_string('mesonbuild', 'dependencies/data/' + cmake_file).decode()
+        cmake_txt = mesondata['dependencies/data/' + cmake_file].data
 
         # In general, some Fortran CMake find_package() also require C language enabled,
         # even if nothing from C is directly used. An easy Fortran example that fails
diff --git a/msi/createmsi.py b/msi/createmsi.py
index 67020a5e6..eca4493ea 100644
--- a/msi/createmsi.py
+++ b/msi/createmsi.py
@@ -151,8 +151,6 @@ class PackageGenerator:
             if os.path.exists(sdir):
                 shutil.rmtree(sdir)
         main_stage, ninja_stage = self.staging_dirs
-        dep_data_dir = 'mesonbuild/dependencies/data'
-        cmake_data_dir = 'mesonbuild/cmake/data'
         modules = self.get_all_modules_from_dir('mesonbuild/modules')
         modules += self.get_all_modules_from_dir('mesonbuild/scripts')
         modules += self.get_more_modules()
@@ -174,8 +172,6 @@ class PackageGenerator:
         pyinst_cmd += ['meson.py']
         subprocess.check_call(pyinst_cmd)
         shutil.move(pyinstaller_tmpdir + '/meson', main_stage)
-        shutil.copytree(dep_data_dir, main_stage + '/mesonbuild/dependencies/data')
-        shutil.copytree(cmake_data_dir, main_stage + '/mesonbuild/cmake/data')
         if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(main_stage, 'meson.exe')):
             sys.exit('Meson exe missing from staging dir.')
         os.mkdir(ninja_stage)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1f95be70c..145f19c52 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ packages = ['mesonbuild',
             'mesonbuild.scripts',
             'mesonbuild.templates',
             'mesonbuild.wrap']
-package_data = {
-    'mesonbuild.dependencies': ['data/CMakeLists.txt', 'data/CMakeListsLLVM.txt', 'data/CMakePathInfo.txt'],
-    'mesonbuild.cmake': ['data/run_ctgt.py', 'data/preload.cmake'],
-}
 data_files = []
 if sys.platform != 'win32':
     # Only useful on UNIX-like systems
@@ -51,6 +47,5 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     setup(name='meson',
           version=version,
           packages=packages,
-          package_data=package_data,
           entry_points=entries,
           data_files=data_files,)