Alternatively importlib.metadata could be used, its not available in the now EOL python3.7 but it does have a backport.

pkg_resources is discouraged either way by setuptools https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/pkg_resources.html.

The use here is very minimal and can be changed like I did here nicolasbock/ebuildtester@e95c342

Only minus is python 3.7 requiring a backport, but python3.7 should be dropped from the CI by now already...

pkg_resources is dropped in setuptools 70, so it should either be pinned to <70 or, better, use importlib.

pkg_resources is dropped in setuptools 70, so it should either be pinned to <70 or, better, use importlib.

Thanks for the headsup! In this case I'm going to close the PR.
I think pinning a package like setuptools is not acceptable. With no response from maintainers in half a year it appears hopeless to get a merge for the correct approach.
I've migrated everything to MyST already anyway. The success of MyST is probably also a reason why this package now appears abandoned.