can not install in setuptools>v57 environment

[momijiame]

Abstract

I found that xfeat could not be installed in an environment where the version of setuptools was v58 or higher. This issue may be due to the fact that 'ml_metrics' which xfeat depends on, ml_metrics uses 'use_2to3' option.

https://github.com/zhouyonglong/ml_metrics/blob/master/Python/setup.py#L14

However, use_2to3 option is already not supported in setuptools v58 or higher.

https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/history.html#v58-0-0

Therefore, the installation will fail with the following error.

$ pip install xfeat            
Collecting xfeat
  Downloading xfeat-0.1.1-py3-none-any.whl (39 kB)
Collecting ml-metrics
  Downloading ml_metrics-0.1.4.tar.gz (5.0 kB)
  Preparing metadata (setup.py) ... error
  error: subprocess-exited-with-error
  
  × python setup.py egg_info did not run successfully.
  │ exit code: 1
  ╰─> [1 lines of output]
      error in ml_metrics setup command: use_2to3 is invalid.
      [end of output]
  
  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
error: metadata-generation-failed

× Encountered error while generating package metadata.
╰─> See above for output.

note: This is an issue with the package mentioned above, not pip.
hint: See above for details.

Note that if you have installed xfeat in the past in an environment with setuptools<v58, the installation will succeed with cached wheels.

Workaround

Downgrade setuptools < v58 and install xfeat.

$ pip install -U "setuptools<58"
$ pip install xfeat

Environment

$ sw_vers
ProductName:	macOS
ProductVersion:	12.2.1
BuildVersion:	21D62
$ python -V 
Python 3.9.10
$ pip list
Package    Version
---------- -------
pip        22.0.3
setuptools 60.6.0
wheel      0.37.1

[momijiame]

IMHO, This may be a issue that ml_metrics should have solved originally. However, that package has not been updated in 6 years, and I am interested in xfeat, so I reported it here first.