Setuptools compatibility with cli_run

docs/changelog/1771.bugfix.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Importing setuptools before cli_run could cause our python information query to fail due to setuptools patching
+``distutils.dist.Distribution`` - by :user:`gaborbernat`.

src/virtualenv/discovery/py_info.py

@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
 import sys
 import sysconfig
 from collections import OrderedDict, namedtuple
+from distutils import dist
 from distutils.command.install import SCHEME_KEYS
-from distutils.dist import Distribution
 from string import digits
 
 VersionInfo = namedtuple("VersionInfo", ["major", "minor", "micro", "releaselevel", "serial"])
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ def _fast_get_system_executable(self):
     @staticmethod
     def _distutils_install():
         # follow https://github.com./pypa/pip/blob/master/src/pip/_internal/locations.py#L95
-        d = Distribution({"script_args": "--no-user-cfg"})  # configuration files not parsed so they do not hijack paths
+        # note here we don't import Distribution directly to allow setuptools to patch it
+        d = dist.Distribution({"script_args": "--no-user-cfg"})  # conf files not parsed so they do not hijack paths
         if hasattr(sys, "_framework"):
             sys._framework = None  # disable macOS static paths for framework
         i = d.get_command_obj("install", create=True)

tests/unit/discovery/py_info/test_py_info.py

@@ -290,3 +290,10 @@ def test_discover_exe_on_path_non_spec_name_not_match(mocker):
         CURRENT, "original_executable", str(Path(CURRENT.executable).parent / "e{}".format(suffixed_name))
     )
     assert CURRENT.satisfies(spec, impl_must_match=True) is False
+
+
+def test_py_info_setuptools():
+    from setuptools.dist import Distribution
+
+    assert Distribution
+    PythonInfo()