The problem is that distutils.spawn.find_executable is an internal API, never meant for general usage.

Only minimal change happens to distutils these days, partly because the codebase is full of dark corners and weird interactions (so a fix can easily break someone else’s setup.py script), partly because few core developers have the expertise and willingess to write patches or review PRs.

So the question is: is the problem you reported a problem that happens when people write setup.py scripts, or when using the function for something else?  If it’s the latter, I’m afraid the safe course of action would be to change nothing, and recommend people use truly general-use functions like shutil.which.