Move numpy compatibility imports to the compat package. Remove them from __all__, as that's not needed for compatibility.

Author: jaraco

distutils/ccompiler.py

@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-from .compilers.C import base
-from .compilers.C.base import (
-    # `_default_compilers` is needed by numpy.distutils, which is supported until
-    #  Python 3.11 is deprecated. This import & export can be removed when
-    #  Python 3.11 is no longer supported by distutils.
+from .compat.numpy import (  # noqa: F401
     _default_compilers,
     compiler_class,
+)
+from .compilers.C import base
+from .compilers.C.base import (
     gen_lib_options,
     gen_preprocess_options,
     get_default_compiler,
@@ -16,8 +15,6 @@
 __all__ = [
     'CompileError',
     'LinkError',
-    '_default_compilers',
-    'compiler_class',
     'gen_lib_options',
     'gen_preprocess_options',
     'get_default_compiler',

distutils/compat/numpy.py

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# required for older numpy versions on Pythons prior to 3.12; see pypa/setuptools#4876
+from ..compilers.C.base import _default_compilers, compiler_class