distutils (a module in the python standard library that we use) got deprecated in python 3.10,
and is planned to be removed from the stdlib in python 3.12.
see 9d38120e33/Lib/distutils/__init__.py (L16)
We only use it in the Qt update_checker (for signed version notifications), to compare version numbers.
That is, we only use a very small part of it (only `distutils.version.StrictVersion`).
```
.../electrum/electrum/gui/qt/update_checker.py:7: DeprecationWarning: The distutils package is deprecated and slated for removal in Python 3.12. Use setuptools or check PEP 632 for potential alternatives
from distutils.version import StrictVersion
```
Migration advice in PEP-632 suggests ( https://peps.python.org/pep-0632/#migration-advice ):
> `distutils.version` — use the `packaging` package
Note that `packaging` is a 3rd party package, i.e. it would be a new dependency.
Also, it does not provide an identical replacement for `distutils.version.StrictVersion`.
Care needs to be taken when changing the semantics of version numbers...
E.g. `packaging.parse` and `packaging.Version` are less strict than what we currently use.
We have to be careful that old code recognises new electrum version numbers as both valid
and numerically greater than their version.
I think the easiest approach is for us to vendor this small part of distutils.
Re directory structure, this is based on `pip`:
bab5bfce50/src/pip/_vendor
(although the approach here is much more naive ofc)
d429b58168