NameError: name 'PathDistribution' is not defined

[stivluc]

Bug in importlib-metadata 8.7.0 where MetadataPathFinder.find_distributions() uses PathDistribution class before it's defined (line 967 uses it, line 982 defines it). Celery triggered this when loading backend extensions.

[jaraco]

I don't understand the context in which this failure occurs. This project is mechanically released only after tests pass and tests cannot pass if there's a NameError on import. How is it that it imports in CI and on my machine, but not in celery? Perhaps the bug is with Celery not supporting forward references to types?

[nightcityblade]

Hi, I'd like to work on this. I'll submit a focused PR with regression coverage shortly.