diff --git a/fs/__init__.py b/fs/__init__.py
index 97dc55ba..8cddcb13 100644
--- a/fs/__init__.py
+++ b/fs/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 """Python filesystem abstraction layer.
 """
 
-__import__("pkg_resources").declare_namespace(__name__)  # type: ignore
+__path__ = __import__("pkgutil").extend_path(__path__, __name__)
 
 from . import path
 from ._fscompat import fsdecode, fsencode
diff --git a/fs/opener/__init__.py b/fs/opener/__init__.py
index 651a630b..336f7379 100644
--- a/fs/opener/__init__.py
+++ b/fs/opener/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 """
 
 # Declare fs.opener as a namespace package
-__import__("pkg_resources").declare_namespace(__name__)  # type: ignore
+__path__ = __import__("pkgutil").extend_path(__path__, __name__)
 
 # Import opener modules so that `registry.install` if called on each opener
 from . import appfs, ftpfs, memoryfs, osfs, tarfs, tempfs, zipfs
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 57c6f40b..fc7182be 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ setup_requires =
     setuptools >=38.3.0
 install_requires =
     appdirs~=1.4.3
-    setuptools
+    setuptools          ; python_version < '3.8'
     six ~=1.10
     enum34 ~=1.1.6      ;  python_version < '3.4'
     typing ~=3.6        ;  python_version < '3.6'