diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 3d3125bc..6362b7c7 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ python_requires = >=3.9
 install_requires =
     pexpect>=4.5
     packaging
-    python-daemon
+    # python-daemon 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 break builds with modern setuptools
+    python-daemon<3.0.0
     pyyaml
     # enable `groups` arg to entry_points missing in 3.9 stdlib importlib.metadata
     importlib-metadata>= 4.6,< 6.3; python_version<'3.10'