> if you recall there was some discussion that it was acceptable to use
> distutils but *only* for python 2.N
There was discussion, yes, but it was not decided to change our decision on the freeze: msg121097

> just as an aside: have all python 3.N packaging scripts, for all
> python-dev scripts *and* all 3rd party packages world-wide, been using
> distutils2 by default instead of distutils?
We are well aware that it is going to take years for the Python world to switch to the new standard, that’s why
1) projects can have a distutils-compatible setup.py and a distutils2-compatible setup.Cfg
2) pysetup can install distutils-based projects
3) I’m working on documentation to help people use distutils2