diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index eb21f7869f..7d2c62e7a2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -12,24 +12,27 @@
 # Copyright: Red Hat Inc. 2013-2014
 # Author: Lucas Meneghel Rodrigues <lmr@redhat.com>
 
-# pylint: disable=E0611
-import os
 import shutil
-from distutils.command.clean import clean
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from setuptools import find_packages, setup
+from setuptools import Command, find_packages, setup
 
 VERSION = open("VERSION", "r").read().strip()
 
 
-class Clean(clean):
-    """Our custom command to get rid of scratch files after build."""
+class CleanCommand(Command):
+    """Custom command to clean up build and scratch files."""
 
-    description = "Get rid of scratch, byte files and build stuff."
+    description = "Custom clean command to tidy up the project root"
+    user_options = []
+
+    def initialize_options(self):
+        pass
+
+    def finalize_options(self):
+        pass
 
     def run(self):
-        super().run()
         cleaning_list = [
             "MANIFEST",
             "BUILD",
@@ -46,12 +49,12 @@ def run(self):
         cleaning_list += list(Path(".").rglob("__pycache__"))
 
         for e in cleaning_list:
-            if not os.path.exists(e):
-                continue
-            if os.path.isfile(e):
-                os.remove(e)
-            if os.path.isdir(e):
-                shutil.rmtree(e)
+            path = Path(e)
+            if path.exists():
+                if path.is_file():
+                    path.unlink()
+                elif path.is_dir():
+                    shutil.rmtree(path)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
@@ -96,6 +99,12 @@ def run(self):
                 "avocado-vt = avocado_vt.plugins.vt_runner:VTTestRunner",
             ],
         },
-        install_requires=["netifaces", "six", "aexpect", "avocado-framework>=82.1"],
-        cmdclass={"clean": Clean},
+        install_requires=[
+            "netifaces",
+            "packaging",
+            "six",
+            "aexpect",
+            "avocado-framework>=82.1",
+        ],
+        cmdclass={"clean": CleanCommand},
     )
diff --git a/virttest/bootstrap.py b/virttest/bootstrap.py
index 581434eca7..4b8ec9e46b 100644
--- a/virttest/bootstrap.py
+++ b/virttest/bootstrap.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import re
 import shutil
 import sys
-from distutils import dir_util  # virtualenv problem pylint: disable=E0611
 
 from avocado.utils import cpu, distro, genio, linux_modules
 from avocado.utils import path as utils_path
@@ -910,7 +909,7 @@ def bootstrap(options, interactive=False):
     LOG.info("%d - Updating test providers repo configuration from local copy", step)
     tp_base_dir = data_dir.get_base_test_providers_dir()
     tp_local_dir = data_dir.get_test_providers_dir()
-    dir_util.copy_tree(tp_base_dir, tp_local_dir)
+    shutil.copytree(tp_base_dir, tp_local_dir)
 
     not_downloaded = asset.test_providers_not_downloaded()
     if not_downloaded:
@@ -950,7 +949,7 @@ def bootstrap(options, interactive=False):
     LOG.info(
         "%d - Syncing backend dirs %s -> %s", step, base_backend_dir, local_backend_dir
     )
-    dir_util.copy_tree(base_backend_dir, local_backend_dir)
+    shutil.copytree(base_backend_dir, local_backend_dir)
 
     sync_download_dir(interactive)
 
diff --git a/virttest/utils_version.py b/virttest/utils_version.py
index 7540f1b64a..1e7c1fcea2 100644
--- a/virttest/utils_version.py
+++ b/virttest/utils_version.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 import operator
 import re
-from distutils.version import (  # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module,import-error
-    LooseVersion,
-)
+
+from packaging.version import parse
 
 
 class VersionInterval(object):
@@ -31,8 +30,8 @@ def __init__(self, interval):
             raise ValueError("Invalid string representation of an interval")
         self.opening, lower, upper, self.closing = match.groups()
 
-        self.lower_bound = LooseVersion(lower) if lower else None
-        self.upper_bound = LooseVersion(upper) if upper else None
+        self.lower_bound = parse(lower) if lower else None
+        self.upper_bound = parse(upper) if upper else None
         self._check_interval()
 
     def _check_interval(self):
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ def __contains__(self, version):
             "]": operator.ge,
         }
         in_interval = True
-        version = LooseVersion(version)
+        version = parse(version)
         if self.lower_bound:
             opt = op_mapping.get(self.opening)
             in_interval = opt(self.lower_bound, version)