DEPS: update setuptools min version

doc/source/development/contributing_environment.rst

@@ -189,9 +189,9 @@ Creating a Python environment (pip)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 If you aren't using conda for your development environment, follow these instructions.
-You'll need to have at least the :ref:`minimum Python version <install.version>` that pandas supports. If your Python version
-is 3.8.0 (or later), you might need to update your ``setuptools`` to version 42.0.0 (or later)
-in your development environment before installing the build dependencies::
+You'll need to have at least the :ref:`minimum Python version <install.version>` that pandas supports.
+You also need to have ``setuptools`` 51.0.0 or later to build pandas.
+In your development environment, use the ``pip`` to upgrade ``setuptools``.
 
       pip install --upgrade setuptools
 

pyproject.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # Minimum requirements for the build system to execute.
 # See https://github.com/scipy/scipy/pull/12940 for the AIX issue.
 requires = [
-    "setuptools>=38.6.0",
+    "setuptools>=51.0.0",
     "wheel",
     "Cython>=0.29.21,<3",  # Note: sync with setup.py
     # Numpy requirements for different OS/architectures