Probably because overall Python startup time is still dominated by site.py/pkg_resources spidering the filesystem and importing half the world; as long as that exists for most users, it's hard to be motivated to make speedups anywhere else.
cf. https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/510
The problem is so bad that it's one of the top quoted reasons that hg is considering a gradual rewrite to rust:
https://www.mercurial-scm.org/wiki/OxidationPlan
In Memory Management in Pythonpypa
setuptools
Python2017–2026
pypa / setuptools
setuptools
Official project repository for the Setuptools build system
30Distinct people
38Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
2.9KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Official project repository for the Setuptools build system
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- dmlls/python-casefy · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- frictionlessdata/frictionless-py · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- psf/requests · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 2:04:58 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year38 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2017-06-01 10:10:29 UTC to 2026-02-12 14:59:46 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 16 | 3 | 13 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
See the Quickstart
and the User's Guide for
instructions on how to use Setuptools.
Questions and comments should be directed to GitHub Discussions.
Bug reports and especially tested patches may be
submitted directly to the bug tracker.
Code of Conduct
Everyone interacting in the setuptools project's codebases, issue trackers,
chat rooms, and fora is expected to follow the
PSF Code of Conduct.
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Read the full README on GitHub