`inference` crash during installation

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• I have searched the Inference issues and found no similar bug report.

Bug

pip install inference results in:

Collecting inference
  Using cached inference-0.9.17-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (14 kB)
Collecting APScheduler<=3.10.1 (from inference)
  Using cached APScheduler-3.10.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (5.7 kB)
Collecting cython<=3.0.0 (from inference)
  Using cached Cython-3.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl.metadata (3.1 kB)
Collecting python-dotenv<=2.0.0 (from inference)
  Using cached python_dotenv-1.0.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (23 kB)
Collecting fastapi<1.0,>=0.100 (from inference)
  Using cached fastapi-0.111.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (25 kB)
Collecting numpy<=1.25.2 (from inference)
  Using cached numpy-1.25.2.tar.gz (10.8 MB)
  Installing build dependencies ... done
  Getting requirements to build wheel ... error
  error: subprocess-exited-with-error

  × Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.
  │ exit code: 1
  ╰─> [33 lines of output]
      Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "/Users/skalskip/Documents/private/YOLO-ARENA/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 353, in <module>
          main()
        File "/Users/skalskip/Documents/private/YOLO-ARENA/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 335, in main
          json_out['return_val'] = hook(**hook_input['kwargs'])
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        File "/Users/skalskip/Documents/private/YOLO-ARENA/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 112, in get_requires_for_build_wheel
          backend = _build_backend()
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        File "/Users/skalskip/Documents/private/YOLO-ARENA/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pip/_vendor/pyproject_hooks/_in_process/_in_process.py", line 77, in _build_backend
          obj = import_module(mod_path)
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.12/3.12.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/importlib/__init__.py", line 90, in import_module
          return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1387, in _gcd_import
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1360, in _find_and_load
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1310, in _find_and_load_unlocked
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1387, in _gcd_import
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1360, in _find_and_load
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1331, in _find_and_load_unlocked
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 935, in _load_unlocked
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 995, in exec_module
        File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
        File "/private/var/folders/90/pvtvnpl923j766yyv6zfn_b80000gn/T/pip-build-env-x7jh4vu2/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 16, in <module>
          import setuptools.version
        File "/private/var/folders/90/pvtvnpl923j766yyv6zfn_b80000gn/T/pip-build-env-x7jh4vu2/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/setuptools/version.py", line 1, in <module>
          import pkg_resources
        File "/private/var/folders/90/pvtvnpl923j766yyv6zfn_b80000gn/T/pip-build-env-x7jh4vu2/overlay/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2172, in <module>
          register_finder(pkgutil.ImpImporter, find_on_path)
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      AttributeError: module 'pkgutil' has no attribute 'ImpImporter'. Did you mean: 'zipimporter'?
      [end of output]

  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
error: subprocess-exited-with-error

× Getting requirements to build wheel did not run successfully.
│ exit code: 1
╰─> See above for output.

note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.

Environment

• macOS Sonoma Version 14.4.1 (23E224)
• Python 3.12.3

Minimal Reproducible Example

No response

Additional

No response

Are you willing to submit a PR?

• Yes I'd like to help by submitting a PR!

Start by reproducing pip install inference with Python 3.12.3 and inspect the dependency metadata around numpy 1.25.2 and its build environment. Done means the inference package installs without the pkgutil.ImpImporter or pkg_resources failure shown in the report.