brian2 import fails with latest setuptools (version 74.0.0)

[bvogginger]

brian2 import fails with version 74 from setuptools due to changes about handling the MVSC compiler Changelog

To reproduce it:

$ conda create -n test_brian python==3.10
$ conda activate test_brian
$ pip install --upgrade setuptools
$ pip install brian2
$ python
$ >>> import brian2

Output of brian2 import:

Python 3.10.0 (default, Mar  3 2022, 09:58:08) [GCC 7.5.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import brian2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/__init__.py", line 91, in <module>
    from brian2.only import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/only.py", line 28, in <module>
    from brian2.core.clocks import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/core/clocks.py", line 11, in <module>
    from brian2.groups.group import VariableOwner
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/groups/__init__.py", line 5, in <module>
    from .group import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/groups/group.py", line 17, in <module>
    from brian2.codegen.codeobject import create_runner_codeobj
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/__init__.py", line 9, in <module>
    from .runtime import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/runtime/__init__.py", line 18, in <module>
    from .numpy_rt import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/runtime/numpy_rt/__init__.py", line 9, in <module>
    from .numpy_rt import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/runtime/numpy_rt/numpy_rt.py", line 21, in <module>
    from ...generators.numpy_generator import NumpyCodeGenerator
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/generators/__init__.py", line 12, in <module>
    from .cpp_generator import *
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/generators/cpp_generator.py", line 5, in <module>
    from brian2.codegen.cpp_prefs import C99Check
  File "/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/brian2/codegen/cpp_prefs.py", line 22, in <module>
    from setuptools import msvc
ImportError: cannot import name 'msvc' from 'setuptools' (/home/vogginger/miniconda3/envs/test_brian/lib/python3.10/site-packages/setuptools/__init__.py)
>>> 

[mstimberg]

Many thanks. I am on vacation but will look into it next week.

[neworderofjamie]

Having taken 'inspiration' from your use of setuptools.msvc for GeNN, I'm keen to know what you come up with! Happy to test/provide MSVC knowledge.

[neworderofjamie]

Cause of the issue is pypa/setuptools#4600. It also seems to affect CuPy cupy/cupy#8568 - will be good to see how they fix the runtime aspect.

[bvogginger]

Thanks a lot @mstimberg for the fix!