In Python 3.12 distutils has been removed from the standard library.

We could

• add setuptools to the dependencies (having it required for the build-system doesn't make it required for the built package).
• write it like

  try: 
      from IPython.core.page import page 
      from IPython.utils.ipstruct import Struct 
      from IPython.core.error import UsageError
  except ImportError:
      # probably IPython < 0.11
      from IPython.genutils import page 
      from IPython.ipstruct import Struct 
      from IPython.ipapi import UsageError

• drop support of IPython 0.11 from 2011 and just do

  from IPython.core.page import page
  from IPython.utils.ipstruct import Struct 
  from IPython.core.error import UsageError