Use static notation for setuptools in CI pip commands

EliahKagan · EliahKagan · commit 727f4e9e5436 · 2025-06-07T15:41:17.000-04:00
`setuptools` may potentially be needed for installation to work fully as desired prior to Python 3.12, so in those versions it is installed automatically in any virtual environment that is created with `pip` available. This is a behavior of the `venv` module that is not specific to CI. However, on CI we upgrade packages that are preinstalled in the virtual environment, or that we may otherwise wish to be present. This took the form of unconditionally installing/upgrading the `pip` and `wheel` packages, but conditionally upgrading the `setuptools` package only if we find that it is already installed. This commit changes the behavior to statically specify the same list of package specifications to `pip` in all environments and in all versions of Python, but to use the static notation recognized by `pip` to indicate that `setuptools` is to be instaled/upgraded only if the Python version is strictly less than Python 3.12. This seems to be more readable. It also avoids using unquoted shell parameter expansion in a way that is potentially confusing (for example, if we were running our CI script steps through ShellCheck, then it would automatically balk at that construction). It is also more consistent with how `test_installation` sets up its environment (especially since 31e1c03, but actually even before that, because it was still conditioning `setuptools` on the Python version rather than whether it was already installed). Finally, this behavior is what the preexisting comment already described. This also adjusts the shell quoting style slightly in other related commands (in the same workflows) that pass package specifications to `pip`, for consistency. (For now, `".[test]"` rather than `.[test]` remains written in the readme because it works in `cmd.exe` as well as other shells, but it may be changed there in the future too.)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/alpine-test.yml b/.github/workflows/alpine-test.yml
@@ -55,12 +55,12 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         # Get the latest pip, wheel, and prior to Python 3.12, setuptools.
         . .venv/bin/activate
-        python -m pip install -U pip $(pip freeze --all | grep -ow ^setuptools) wheel
+        python -m pip install -U pip 'setuptools; python_version<"3.12"' wheel
 
     - name: Install project and test dependencies
       run: |
         . .venv/bin/activate
-        pip install ".[test]"
+        pip install '.[test]'
 
     - name: Show version and platform information
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cygwin-test.yml b/.github/workflows/cygwin-test.yml
@@ -79,11 +79,11 @@ jobs:
     - name: Update PyPA packages
       run: |
         # Get the latest pip, wheel, and prior to Python 3.12, setuptools.
-        python -m pip install -U pip $(pip freeze --all | grep -ow ^setuptools) wheel
+        python -m pip install -U pip 'setuptools; python_version<"3.12"' wheel
 
     - name: Install project and test dependencies
       run: |
-        pip install ".[test]"
+        pip install '.[test]'
 
     - name: Show version and platform information
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
@@ -72,11 +72,11 @@ jobs:
     - name: Update PyPA packages
       run: |
         # Get the latest pip, wheel, and prior to Python 3.12, setuptools.
-        python -m pip install -U pip $(pip freeze --all | grep -ow ^setuptools) wheel
+        python -m pip install -U pip 'setuptools; python_version<"3.12"' wheel
 
     - name: Install project and test dependencies
       run: |
-        pip install ".[test]"
+        pip install '.[test]'
 
     - name: Show version and platform information
       run: |
@@ -114,5 +114,5 @@ jobs:
     - name: Documentation
       if: matrix.python-version != '3.7'
       run: |
-        pip install ".[doc]"
+        pip install '.[doc]'
         make -C doc html
