Switch off of deprecated `pkg_resources` library

[kdmccormick]

Background

The pkg_resources library, used by XBlock to load static assets, is deprecated. The removal timeline is unknown.

xblock-utils uses pkg_resources in a couple places.

To do

First, choose a new resource loading interface. Options:

• Use importlib.resources. Unfortunately, this will become deprecated in Python 3.11 and replaced with a yet-to-be-determined interface.
• Wait until Python 3.11, and then switch to the 3.11 replacement.

Then:

• Update the code in xblock-utils.

Related

• Switch off of deprecated pkg_resources library #641
• Merge openedx/xblock-utils library into openedx/XBlock #675

[farhan]

After reading the related docs/blogs shared below I think we should choose importlib_resources library which is developed and maintained by Python developers and fixes the architecture issues related to importlib.resources module which is going to be deprecated in Python 3.11 as discussed here

Docs/Blogs
https://discuss.python.org/t/deprecating-importlib-resources-legacy-api/11386
https://importlib-resources.readthedocs.io/en/latest/using.html
https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.resources.html
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/importlib-package-in-python/
https://dev.to/bowmanjd/easily-load-non-python-data-files-from-a-python-package-2e8g

FYI @kdmccormick @feanil

[kdmccormick]

@farhan , thanks for the research. I took a look at the Python forum post and came to the conclusion that:

• pkg_resources is what we use now. It is deprecated but will still work in Python 3.11.
• importlib.resources was introduced in Python 3.7, but its API had design problems.
• importlib_resources is a better, redesigned version of that API, available in Python 3.3+.
• In Python 3.11, importlib_resources becomes official, as importlib.resources, thus deprecating the old, problematic version of the API.

So, it sounds like we could wait until edx-platform is upgraded to Python 3.11, and then just switch directly to the new, official importlib.resources package. Does that sound good?

[feanil]

As an additional note, it looks like pkg_resources is still around in 3.12 so it will be safe to jump to that as well so I think we can de-prioritize this until after the python upgrade which we'll hopefully kick-off soon.