diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index c9ee10c..75ddb1e 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -31,11 +31,17 @@ binary extension for your Python.
 
 If it is unable to build a binary extension, it will use cffi ABI mode
 instead and only needs the libvips shared library. This takes longer to
-start up and is typically ~20% slower in execution.  You can find out how
-pyvips installed with ``pip show pyvips``.
+start up and is typically ~20% slower in execution.  You can find out if
+API mode is being used with:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    import pyvips
+
+    print(pyvips.API_mode)
 
 This binding passes the vips test suite cleanly and with no leaks under
-python2.7 - python3.11, pypy and pypy3 on Windows, macOS and Linux. 
+python3 and pypy3 on Windows, macOS and Linux. 
 
 How it works
 ------------
@@ -246,7 +252,7 @@ Update pypi package:
 
 .. code-block:: shell
 
-    $ python3 setup.py sdist
+    $ python3 -m build --sdist
     $ twine upload --repository pyvips dist/*
     $ git tag -a v2.2.0 -m "as uploaded to pypi"
     $ git push origin v2.2.0
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c10eaed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = [
+    # First version of setuptools to support pyproject.toml configuration
+    "setuptools>=61.0.0",
+    "wheel",
+    # Must be kept in sync with `project.dependencies`
+    "cffi>=1.0.0",
+    "pkgconfig>=1.5",
+]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "pyvips"
+authors = [
+    {name = "John Cupitt", email = "jcupitt@gmail.com"},
+]
+description = "binding for the libvips image processing library"
+readme = "README.rst"
+keywords = [
+    "image processing",
+]
+license = {text = "MIT"}
+requires-python = ">=3.7"
+classifiers = [
+    "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
+    "Environment :: Console",
+    "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+    "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
+    "Topic :: Multimedia :: Graphics",
+    "Topic :: Multimedia :: Graphics :: Graphics Conversion",
+    "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+    "Programming Language :: Python",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy",
+]
+dependencies = [
+    # Must be kept in sync with `build-system.requires`
+    "cffi>=1.0.0",
+]
+dynamic = [
+    "version",
+]
+
+[project.urls]
+changelog = "https://github.com/libvips/pyvips/blob/master/CHANGELOG.rst"
+documentation = "https://libvips.github.io/pyvips/"
+funding = "https://opencollective.com/libvips"
+homepage = "https://github.com/libvips/pyvips"
+issues = "https://github.com/libvips/pyvips/issues"
+source = "https://github.com/libvips/pyvips"
+
+[tool.setuptools]
+# We try to compile as part of install, so we can't run in a ZIP
+zip-safe = false
+include-package-data = false
+
+[tool.setuptools.dynamic]
+version = {attr = "pyvips.version.__version__"}
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+exclude = [
+    "doc*",
+    "examples*",
+    "tests*",
+]
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+# All the following are used for our own testing
+tox = ["tox"]
+test = [
+    "pytest",
+    "pyperf",
+]
+sdist = ["build"]
+doc = [
+    "sphinx",
+    "sphinx_rtd_theme",
+]
+
+[tool.pytest.ini_options]
+norecursedirs = ["tests/helpers"]
diff --git a/pyvips/__init__.py b/pyvips/__init__.py
index 39abf8e..323992b 100644
--- a/pyvips/__init__.py
+++ b/pyvips/__init__.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 # user code can override this null handler
 logger.addHandler(logging.NullHandler())
 
-# pull in our module version number, see also setup.py
+# pull in our module version number
 from .version import __version__
 
 # try to import our binary interface ... if that works, we are in API mode
diff --git a/pyvips/error.py b/pyvips/error.py
index 359deb6..962a1f6 100644
--- a/pyvips/error.py
+++ b/pyvips/error.py
@@ -1,23 +1,12 @@
 # errors from libvips
 
-import sys
 import logging
 
+from pathlib import Path
 from pyvips import ffi, vips_lib, glib_lib
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-_is_PY3 = sys.version_info[0] == 3
-
-if _is_PY3:
-    # pathlib is not part of Python 2 stdlib
-    from pathlib import Path
-    text_type = str, Path
-    byte_type = bytes
-else:
-    text_type = unicode  # noqa: F821
-    byte_type = str
-
 
 def _to_bytes(x):
     """Convert to a byte string.
@@ -26,7 +15,7 @@ def _to_bytes(x):
     byte string. You must call this on strings you pass to libvips.
 
     """
-    if isinstance(x, text_type):
+    if isinstance(x, (str, Path)):
         # n.b. str also converts pathlib.Path objects
         x = str(x).encode('utf-8')
 
@@ -44,7 +33,7 @@ def _to_string(x):
         x = 'NULL'
     else:
         x = ffi.string(x)
-        if isinstance(x, byte_type):
+        if isinstance(x, bytes):
             x = x.decode('utf-8')
 
     return x
diff --git a/pyvips/gobject.py b/pyvips/gobject.py
index 3777299..706424c 100644
--- a/pyvips/gobject.py
+++ b/pyvips/gobject.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
diff --git a/pyvips/gvalue.py b/pyvips/gvalue.py
index 13c2a18..88f2360 100644
--- a/pyvips/gvalue.py
+++ b/pyvips/gvalue.py
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
-from __future__ import division
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-
 import logging
 import numbers
-import sys
 
 import pyvips
 from pyvips import ffi, vips_lib, gobject_lib, \
@@ -12,8 +8,6 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-_is_PY2 = sys.version_info.major == 2
-
 
 class GValue(object):
 
@@ -103,7 +97,7 @@ def to_enum(gtype, value):
 
         """
 
-        if isinstance(value, basestring if _is_PY2 else str):  # noqa: F821
+        if isinstance(value, str):
             enum_value = vips_lib.vips_enum_from_nick(b'pyvips', gtype,
                                                       _to_bytes(value))
             if enum_value < 0:
@@ -132,7 +126,7 @@ def to_flag(gtype, value):
 
         """
 
-        if isinstance(value, basestring if _is_PY2 else str):  # noqa: F821
+        if isinstance(value, str):
             flag_value = vips_lib.vips_flags_from_nick(b'pyvips', gtype,
                                                        _to_bytes(value))
             if flag_value < 0:
diff --git a/pyvips/pyvips_build.py b/pyvips/pyvips_build.py
index 4a328f0..788b479 100644
--- a/pyvips/pyvips_build.py
+++ b/pyvips/pyvips_build.py
@@ -9,19 +9,7 @@
 if pkgconfig.installed('vips', '< 8.2'):
     raise Exception('pkg-config "vips" is too old -- need libvips 8.2 or later')
 
-# pkgconfig 1.5+ has modversion ... otherwise, use a small shim
-try:
-    from pkgconfig import modversion
-except ImportError:
-    def modversion(package):
-        # will need updating once we hit 8.20 :(
-        for i in range(20, 3, -1):
-            if pkgconfig.installed(package, '>= 8.' + str(i)):
-                # be careful micro version is always set to 0
-                return '8.' + str(i) + '.0'
-        return '8.2.0'
-
-major, minor, micro = [int(s) for s in modversion('vips').split('.')]
+major, minor, micro = [int(s) for s in pkgconfig.modversion('vips').split('.')]
 
 ffibuilder = FFI()
 
diff --git a/pyvips/vconnection.py b/pyvips/vconnection.py
index b33e093..cd4202c 100644
--- a/pyvips/vconnection.py
+++ b/pyvips/vconnection.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
diff --git a/pyvips/version.py b/pyvips/version.py
index 0a5ae40..391907e 100644
--- a/pyvips/version.py
+++ b/pyvips/version.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# this is execfile()d into setup.py imported into __init__.py
+# this is used in pyproject.toml and imported into __init__.py
 __version__ = '2.2.3'
 
 __all__ = ['__version__']
diff --git a/pyvips/vimage.py b/pyvips/vimage.py
index df6a178..46f1ee1 100644
--- a/pyvips/vimage.py
+++ b/pyvips/vimage.py
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # wrap VipsImage
 
-from __future__ import division
-
 import numbers
 import struct
 
@@ -83,26 +81,6 @@ def _run_cmplx(fn, image):
     return image
 
 
-# https://stackoverflow.com/a/22409540/1480019
-# https://github.com/benjaminp/six/blob/33b584b2c551548021adb92a028ceaf892deb5be/six.py#L846-L861
-def _with_metaclass(metaclass):
-    """Class decorator for creating a class with a metaclass."""
-    def wrapper(cls):
-        orig_vars = cls.__dict__.copy()
-        slots = orig_vars.get('__slots__')
-        if slots is not None:
-            if isinstance(slots, str):
-                slots = [slots]
-            for slots_var in slots:
-                orig_vars.pop(slots_var)
-        orig_vars.pop('__dict__', None)
-        orig_vars.pop('__weakref__', None)
-        if hasattr(cls, '__qualname__'):
-            orig_vars['__qualname__'] = cls.__qualname__
-        return metaclass(cls.__name__, cls.__bases__, orig_vars)
-    return wrapper
-
-
 # decorator to set docstring
 def _add_doc(name):
     try:
@@ -258,8 +236,7 @@ def call_function(*args, **kwargs):
         return call_function
 
 
-@_with_metaclass(ImageType)
-class Image(pyvips.VipsObject):
+class Image(pyvips.VipsObject, metaclass=ImageType):
     """Wrap a VipsImage object.
 
     """
@@ -610,12 +587,6 @@ def new_from_memory(data, width, height, bands, format):
         """
         format_value = GValue.to_enum(GValue.format_type, format)
         pointer = ffi.from_buffer(data)
-        # py3:
-        #   - memoryview has .nbytes for number of bytes in object
-        #   - len() returns number of elements in top array
-        # py2:
-        #   - buffer has no nbytes member
-        #   - but len() gives number of bytes in object
         nbytes = data.nbytes if hasattr(data, 'nbytes') else len(data)
         vi = vips_lib.vips_image_new_from_memory(pointer,
                                                  nbytes,
diff --git a/pyvips/vinterpolate.py b/pyvips/vinterpolate.py
index 88a2080..5b0f2c7 100644
--- a/pyvips/vinterpolate.py
+++ b/pyvips/vinterpolate.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import pyvips
 from pyvips import ffi, vips_lib, Error, _to_bytes
 
diff --git a/pyvips/vobject.py b/pyvips/vobject.py
index 72a036c..bd5c9ff 100644
--- a/pyvips/vobject.py
+++ b/pyvips/vobject.py
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # wrap VipsObject
 
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
diff --git a/pyvips/voperation.py b/pyvips/voperation.py
index ac80511..db66b15 100644
--- a/pyvips/voperation.py
+++ b/pyvips/voperation.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division, print_function
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
diff --git a/pyvips/vregion.py b/pyvips/vregion.py
index 42da7d7..7b79a94 100644
--- a/pyvips/vregion.py
+++ b/pyvips/vregion.py
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # wrap VipsRegion
 
-from __future__ import division
-
 import pyvips
 from pyvips import ffi, glib_lib, vips_lib, Error, at_least_libvips
 
diff --git a/pyvips/vsource.py b/pyvips/vsource.py
index a3095f0..a1b7d50 100644
--- a/pyvips/vsource.py
+++ b/pyvips/vsource.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
@@ -81,12 +79,6 @@ def new_from_memory(data):
 
         # logger.debug('VipsSource.new_from_memory:')
 
-        # py3:
-        #   - memoryview has .nbytes for number of bytes in object
-        #   - len() returns number of elements in top array
-        # py2:
-        #   - buffer has no nbytes member
-        #   - but len() gives number of bytes in object
         start = ffi.from_buffer(data)
         nbytes = data.nbytes if hasattr(data, 'nbytes') else len(data)
 
diff --git a/pyvips/vsourcecustom.py b/pyvips/vsourcecustom.py
index d154045..f73dc50 100644
--- a/pyvips/vsourcecustom.py
+++ b/pyvips/vsourcecustom.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
diff --git a/pyvips/vtarget.py b/pyvips/vtarget.py
index 44139d4..9eecfdf 100644
--- a/pyvips/vtarget.py
+++ b/pyvips/vtarget.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
diff --git a/pyvips/vtargetcustom.py b/pyvips/vtargetcustom.py
index 8a5582e..9f6b7d4 100644
--- a/pyvips/vtargetcustom.py
+++ b/pyvips/vtargetcustom.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import division
-
 import logging
 
 import pyvips
@@ -34,13 +32,7 @@ def on_write(self, handler):
         """
 
         def interface_handler(buf):
-            bytes_written = handler(buf)
-            # py2 will often return None for bytes_written ... replace with
-            # the length of the string
-            if bytes_written is None:
-                bytes_written = len(buf)
-
-            return bytes_written
+            return handler(buf)
 
         self.signal_connect("write", interface_handler)
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
deleted file mode 100644
index 98969c5..0000000
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-[aliases]
-test=pytest
-
-[bdist_wheel]
-universal=1
-
-[tool:pytest]
-norecursedirs=tests/helpers
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9bebd31..2bebdae 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,126 +1,22 @@
-"""a binding for the libvips image processing library
-
-See:
-https://github.com/libvips/pyvips
-"""
-
-# flake8: noqa
-
 import sys
-from codecs import open
-from os import path
-
-from setuptools import setup, find_packages
-from distutils import log
-
-here = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))
-
-info = {}
-with open(path.join(here, 'pyvips', 'version.py'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
-    exec(f.read(), info)
-
-with open(path.join(here, 'README.rst'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
-    long_description = f.read()
-
-# See https://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=list_classifiers
-pyvips_classifiers = [
-    'Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable',
-    'Environment :: Console',
-    'Intended Audience :: Developers',
-    'Intended Audience :: Science/Research',
-    'Topic :: Multimedia :: Graphics',
-    'Topic :: Multimedia :: Graphics :: Graphics Conversion',
-    'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.3',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.5',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython',
-    'Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy',
-]
 
-setup_deps = [
-    'cffi>=1.0.0',
-]
-
-install_deps = [
-    'cffi>=1.0.0',
-]
-
-test_deps = [
-    'cffi>=1.0.0',
-    'pytest',
-    'pyperf',
-]
-
-extras = {
-    'test': test_deps,
-    'doc': ['sphinx', 'sphinx_rtd_theme'],
-}
-
-pyvips_packages = find_packages(exclude=['docs', 'tests', 'examples'])
-
-sys.path.append(path.join(here, 'pyvips'))
-
-def setup_API():
-    setup(
-        name='pyvips',
-        version=info['__version__'],
-        description='binding for the libvips image processing library, API mode',
-        long_description=long_description,
-        url='https://github.com/libvips/pyvips',
-        author='John Cupitt',
-        author_email='jcupitt@gmail.com',
-        license='MIT',
-        classifiers=pyvips_classifiers,
-        keywords='image processing',
-
-        packages=pyvips_packages,
-        setup_requires=setup_deps + ['pkgconfig'],
-        cffi_modules=['pyvips/pyvips_build.py:ffibuilder'],
-        install_requires=install_deps + ['pkgconfig'],
-        tests_require=test_deps,
-        extras_require=extras,
-
-        # we will try to compile as part of install, so we can't run in a zip
-        zip_safe=False,
-    )
+from os import path
+from setuptools import setup
 
-def setup_ABI():
-    setup(
-        name='pyvips',
-        version=info['__version__'],
-        description='binding for the libvips image processing library, ABI mode',
-        long_description=long_description,
-        url='https://github.com/libvips/pyvips',
-        author='John Cupitt',
-        author_email='jcupitt@gmail.com',
-        license='MIT',
-        classifiers=pyvips_classifiers,
-        keywords='image processing',
+base_dir = path.dirname(__file__)
+src_dir = path.join(base_dir, 'pyvips')
 
-        packages=pyvips_packages,
-        setup_requires=setup_deps,
-        install_requires=install_deps,
-        tests_require=test_deps,
-        extras_require=extras,
-    )
+# When executing the setup.py, we need to be able to import ourselves, this
+# means that we need to add the pyvips/ directory to the sys.path.
+sys.path.insert(0, src_dir)
 
-# try to install in API mode first, then if that fails, fall back to ABI
+# Try to install in API mode first, then if that fails, fall back to ABI
 
 # API mode requires a working C compiler plus all the libvips headers whereas
 # ABI only needs the libvips shared library to be on the system
 
 try:
-    setup_API()
+    setup(cffi_modules=['pyvips/pyvips_build.py:ffibuilder'])
 except Exception as e:
-    log.warn('Falling back to ABI mode. Details: {0}'.format(e))
-    setup_ABI()
+    print('Falling back to ABI mode. Details: {0}'.format(e))
+    setup()
diff --git a/tests/helpers/helpers.py b/tests/helpers/helpers.py
index 37af4bd..d7f14fd 100644
--- a/tests/helpers/helpers.py
+++ b/tests/helpers/helpers.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # vim: set fileencoding=utf-8 :
 # test helpers
 import os
-import sys
 import tempfile
 import pytest
 
@@ -12,8 +11,6 @@
 WEBP_FILE = os.path.join(IMAGES, "sample.webp")
 SVG_FILE = os.path.join(IMAGES, "logo.svg")
 
-_is_PY3 = sys.version_info[0] == 3
-
 
 # an expanding zip ... if either of the args is a scalar or a one-element list,
 # duplicate it down the other side
diff --git a/tests/test_progress.py b/tests/test_progress.py
index d49261d..d931113 100644
--- a/tests/test_progress.py
+++ b/tests/test_progress.py
@@ -7,17 +7,21 @@
 
 class TestProgress:
     def test_progress(self):
-        # py27 requires this pattern for non-local modification
-        notes = {}
+        seen_preeval = False
+        seen_eval = False
+        seen_posteval = False
 
         def preeval_cb(image, progress):
-            notes['seen_preeval'] = True
+            nonlocal seen_preeval
+            seen_preeval = True
 
         def eval_cb(image, progress):
-            notes['seen_eval'] = True
+            nonlocal seen_eval
+            seen_eval = True
 
         def posteval_cb(image, progress):
-            notes['seen_posteval'] = True
+            nonlocal seen_posteval
+            seen_posteval = True
 
         image = pyvips.Image.black(1, 100000)
         image.set_progress(True)
@@ -26,9 +30,9 @@ def posteval_cb(image, progress):
         image.signal_connect('posteval', posteval_cb)
         image.avg()
 
-        assert notes['seen_preeval']
-        assert notes['seen_eval']
-        assert notes['seen_posteval']
+        assert seen_preeval
+        assert seen_eval
+        assert seen_posteval
 
     def test_progress_fields(self):
         def preeval_cb(image, progress):
diff --git a/tests/test_saveload.py b/tests/test_saveload.py
index 248895a..d4c6c8a 100644
--- a/tests/test_saveload.py
+++ b/tests/test_saveload.py
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@
 import os
 import tempfile
 
-import pytest
 import pyvips
-from helpers import temp_filename, skip_if_no, _is_PY3, IMAGES, JPEG_FILE
+from pathlib import Path
+from helpers import temp_filename, skip_if_no, IMAGES, JPEG_FILE
 
 
 class TestSaveLoad:
@@ -39,11 +39,6 @@ def test_load_file(self):
 
     @skip_if_no('jpegload')
     def test_save_file_pathlib(self):
-        if not _is_PY3:
-            pytest.skip('pathlib not in stdlib in Python 2')
-
-        from pathlib import Path
-
         filename = Path(temp_filename(self.tempdir, '.jpg'))
 
         im = pyvips.Image.black(10, 20)
@@ -53,11 +48,6 @@ def test_save_file_pathlib(self):
 
     @skip_if_no('jpegload')
     def test_load_file_pathlib(self):
-        if not _is_PY3:
-            pytest.skip('pathlib not in stdlib in Python 2')
-
-        from pathlib import Path
-
         filename = Path(IMAGES) / 'sample.jpg'
         assert filename.exists()