Restore custom distutils handling for resolving paths to submodules.

.github/workflows/ci.yaml

@@ -406,3 +406,38 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           . venv/bin/activate
           pytest tests/
+
+  specific-virtualenv-test:
+    name: Regression test for virtualenv==15.1.0 on Windows
+    runs-on: windows-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out code from GitHub
+        uses: actions/[email protected]
+      - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        id: python
+        uses: actions/[email protected]
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+      - name: Restore Python virtual environment
+        id: cache-virtualenv15
+        uses: actions/[email protected]
+        with:
+          path: venv2
+          key: >-
+            ${{ runner.os }}-virtualenv15
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-virtualenv15-${{ env.CACHE_VERSION }}
+      - name: Create Python virtual environment with virtualenv==15.1.0
+        if: steps.cache-virtualenv15_1_0.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install virtualenv==15.1.0
+          python -m virtualenv venv2
+          . venv2\scripts\activate
+          python -m pip install pylint
+          python -m pip install -e .
+      - name: Test distutils edge case
+        run: |
+          . venv2\scripts\activate
+          echo "import distutils.util  # pylint: disable=unused-import" > test.py
+          pylint test.py

ChangeLog

@@ -86,6 +86,10 @@ Release date: 2021-12-31
 
   Ref #1321
 
+* Restore custom ``distutils`` handling for resolving paths to submodules.
+
+  Closes PyCQA/pylint#5645
+
 * Fix ``deque.insert()`` signature in ``collections`` brain.
 
   Closes #1260

astroid/interpreter/_import/spec.py

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import sys
 import zipimport
 from functools import lru_cache
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from . import util
 
@@ -160,6 +161,18 @@ def contribute_to_path(self, spec, processed):
                 for p in sys.path
                 if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(p, *processed))
             ]
+        elif spec.name == "distutils":
+            # virtualenv below 20.0 patches distutils in an unexpected way
+            # so we just find the location of distutils that will be
+            # imported to avoid spurious import-error messages
+            distutils_spec = importlib.util.find_spec("distutils")
+            if distutils_spec:
+                origin_path = Path(
+                    distutils_spec.origin
+                )  # e.g. .../distutils/__init__.py
+                path = [str(origin_path.parent)]  # e.g. .../distutils
+            else:
+                path = [spec.location]
         else:
             path = [spec.location]
         return path