diff --git a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
index a851a3df..c6a60c0d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.10", "3.11"]
+        python-version: ["3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13"]
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7ab43888..cb1970b1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # We need mypy-protobuf during build - it is a plugin to protoc.
 # The version requirement is iffy, there is no way to know whether
 # this is going to be compatible to the installed protoc or not.
-requires = ["setuptools>=55.0.0", "wheel", "mypy-protobuf~=3.4.0"]
+requires = ["setuptools>=75.6.0", "wheel", "mypy-protobuf~=3.4.0"]
 build-backend = 'setuptools.build_meta'
 
 [tool.black]
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 9fcbdb27..d3a24a7c 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ dev =
     %(cli)s
     tox
 pandas =
-    pandas ~= 2.0.1
+    pandas ~= 2.2.0
 cli =
     click
     click-log
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5e61d0d0..7e5664d6 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,13 +13,11 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import re
+import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
 from bisect import bisect_right
 from datetime import datetime
-from distutils.errors import DistutilsFileError
-from distutils.log import ERROR, INFO
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 from operator import itemgetter
 from typing import Any, Iterable, Optional
 
@@ -29,6 +27,9 @@
 metricq_package_dir = "metricq"
 protobuf_version_module_file = "_protobuf_version.py"
 
+INFO = 2
+ERROR = 4
+
 
 class ProtocWrapper:
     @staticmethod
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ def _find_protoc() -> str | None:
         if "PROTOC" in os.environ and os.path.exists(os.environ["PROTOC"]):
             return os.environ["PROTOC"]
 
-        return find_executable("protoc")
+        return shutil.which("protoc")
 
     @staticmethod
     def _get_protoc_version(protoc: str) -> tuple[int, int, int]:
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ def _assert_has_executable(self) -> None:
                     os.environ.get("PROTOC", "Not set")
                 )
             )
-            raise DistutilsFileError("protoc not found")
+            raise ValueError("protoc not found")
 
     @property
     def executable(self) -> str:
@@ -242,7 +243,7 @@ def _protobuf_filenames(self) -> Iterable[str]:
 
         if not filenames:
             self.error(f"no protobuf files found in {self.proto_dir}")
-            raise DistutilsFileError(f"No protobuf files found in {self.proto_dir}")
+            raise ValueError(f"No protobuf files found in {self.proto_dir}")
 
         self.info(f"found protobuf files: {filenames}")