diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
index 7302eb28a86..822934564e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python: ['3.7', '3.11']
+        python: ['3.7', '3.11', '3.12']
         modules_tool: [Lmod-8.6.8]
         module_syntax: [Lua, Tcl]
       fail-fast: false
@@ -44,6 +44,11 @@ jobs:
         sudo apt-get install lua5.2 liblua5.2-dev lua-filesystem lua-posix tcl tcl-dev
         # for testing OpenMPI-system*eb we need to have Open MPI installed
         sudo apt-get install libopenmpi-dev openmpi-bin
+
+        # update to latest pip, check version
+        pip install --upgrade pip
+        pip --version
+        pip install setuptools
         # required for test_dep_graph
         pip install pycodestyle python-graph-core python-graph-dot
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 597c2b066ee..2203ebf10b0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@
 """
 
 import os
-from distutils import log
-from distutils.core import setup
+import logging
+from setuptools import setup
 
 # note: release candidates should be versioned as a pre-release, e.g. "1.1rc1"
 # 1.1-rc1 would indicate a post-release, i.e., and update of 1.1, so beware!
@@ -49,8 +49,10 @@
 MAJ_VER = VERSION.split('.')[0]
 MAJMIN_VER = '.'.join(VERSION.split('.')[0:2])
 
-# log levels: 0 = WARN (default), 1 = INFO, 2 = DEBUG
-log.set_verbosity(1)
+log = logging.getLogger("EasyBuild")
+
+# log levels: NOTSET (default), DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL
+log.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 
 
 # utility function to read README file