diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-black.yaml b/.github/workflows/lint-black.yaml
index 845479e9..35a03624 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-black.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-black.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: 3.8
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel packaging
         make install-lint
     - name: Run black
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-darglint.yaml b/.github/workflows/lint-darglint.yaml
index 7465bf05..d40b256c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-darglint.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-darglint.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: 3.8
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel packaging
         make install-lint
     - name: Run darglint
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-flake8.yaml b/.github/workflows/lint-flake8.yaml
index c9fe10a6..c0f2bfde 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-flake8.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-flake8.yaml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: 3.8
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel packaging
         make install-lint
     - name: Run flake8
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-isort.yaml b/.github/workflows/lint-isort.yaml
index cdde1386..543a374c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-isort.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-isort.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: 3.8
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel packaging
         make install-lint
     - name: Run isort
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-pydocstyle.yaml b/.github/workflows/lint-pydocstyle.yaml
index 5cd4baa2..f18e8753 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint-pydocstyle.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-pydocstyle.yaml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: 3.8
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel packaging
         make install-lint
     - name: Run pydocstyle
       run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/python-publish.yml
index 0b1c9739..5389d3cf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-publish.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          pip install setuptools wheel twine
+          python -m pip install setuptools wheel twine packaging
       - name: Build and publish
         env:
           TWINE_USERNAME: __token__
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yaml b/.github/workflows/test.yaml
index 5dc6c116..335126b7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: "${{ matrix.python-version }}"
     - name: Install Dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel packaging
         make install-test
     - name: Run test
       if: contains('refs/heads/master refs/heads/development', github.ref)
diff --git a/.readthedocs.yaml b/.readthedocs.yaml
index 3d33c3ec..6436f79b 100644
--- a/.readthedocs.yaml
+++ b/.readthedocs.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ build:
   os: ubuntu-22.04
   tools:
     python: "3.8"
+  jobs:
+    post_install:
+    - pip install --upgrade pip packaging wheel setuptools==69.5.1
 
 python:
   install:
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 75924ff2..3527794b 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ lint =
 
 # Dependencies needed to build/view the documentation (semicolon/line-separated)
 docs =
-    setuptools==69.5.1 # RTD fails with setuptools>=70, see https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/issues/15863
     transformers
     datasets
     matplotlib
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 18aba9ef..5007a5ba 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,14 +4,15 @@
 """
 
 import sys
+from importlib.metadata import version
 
-from pkg_resources import VersionConflict, require
+from packaging.version import Version
 from setuptools import setup
 
-try:
-    require("setuptools>=38.3")
-except VersionConflict:
-    print("Error: version of setuptools is too old (<38.3)!")
+setuptools_version = Version(version("setuptools"))
+
+if setuptools_version < Version("38.3"):
+    print(f"Error: version of setuptools is too old (<38.3). Got {setuptools_version}.")
     sys.exit(1)