Forwarded: https://github.com/BlueBrain/nmodl/pull/1166

--- a/nmodl/ast.py
+++ b/nmodl/ast.py
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
+import getpass
+import json
+import os
+import tempfile
+import webbrowser
+from importlib.resources import files
+from shutil import copytree
+
+from ._nmodl import to_json
 from ._nmodl.ast import *  # noqa
-from pkg_resources import *
+
 
 def view(nmodl_ast):
     """Visualize given NMODL AST in web browser
@@ -14,29 +23,20 @@
     Returns:
         None
     """
-    from ._nmodl import to_json
-    from distutils.dir_util import copy_tree
-    import getpass
-    import json
-    import os
-    import tempfile
-    import webbrowser
-
-    resource = "ext/viz"
-    if resource_exists(__name__, resource) and resource_isdir(__name__, resource):
-        installed_viz_tool = resource_filename(__name__, resource)
-    else:
+
+    path = files("nmodl") / "ext/viz"
+    if not path.is_dir():
         raise FileNotFoundError("Could not find sample mod files")
 
     work_dir = os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), getpass.getuser(), "nmodl")
 
     # first copy necessary files to temp work directory
-    copy_tree(installed_viz_tool, work_dir)
+    copytree(path, work_dir, dirs_exist_ok=True)
 
     # prepare json data
-    with open(os.path.join(work_dir, 'ast.js'), 'w') as outfile:
-        json_data = json.loads(to_json(nmodl_ast, True, True, True))
-        outfile.write('var astRoot = %s;' % json.dumps(json_data))
+    json_data = json.loads(to_json(nmodl_ast, True, True, True))
+    with open(os.path.join(work_dir, "ast.js"), "w", encoding="utf-8") as outfile:
+        outfile.write(f"var astRoot = {json.dumps(json_data)};")
 
     # open browser with ast
     url = 'file://' + os.path.join(work_dir, "index.html")
--- a/nmodl/dsl.py
+++ b/nmodl/dsl.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import os.path as osp
-from pkg_resources import *
+from importlib.resources import files
 
 from ._nmodl import *
 
@@ -13,8 +13,9 @@
     Returns:
         List of available examples
     """
-    if resource_exists(__name__, RESOURCE_DIR) and resource_isdir(__name__, RESOURCE_DIR):
-        return resource_listdir(__name__, RESOURCE_DIR)
+    path = files("nmodl") / RESOURCE_DIR
+    if path.exists() and path.is_dir():
+        return [result.name for result in path.glob("*.mod")]
     else:
         raise FileNotFoundError("Could not find sample directory")
 
@@ -31,8 +32,8 @@
     Returns:
         List of available examples
     """
-    resource =  osp.join(RESOURCE_DIR, example)
-    if resource_exists(__name__, resource):
-        return resource_string(__name__, resource)
+    path = files("nmodl") / RESOURCE_DIR / example
+    if path.exists():
+        return path.read_text()
     else:
         raise FileNotFoundError("Could not find sample mod files")
--- a/pywheel/shim/_binwrapper.py
+++ b/pywheel/shim/_binwrapper.py
@@ -7,27 +7,17 @@
 import os
 import sys
 import stat
-from pkg_resources import working_set
+from importlib.metadata import metadata, PackageNotFoundError
+from importlib.resources import files
 from find_libpython import find_libpython
 
 
 def _config_exe(exe_name):
     """Sets the environment to run the real executable (returned)"""
 
-    package_name = "nmodl"
-
-    if package_name not in working_set.by_key:
-        print ("INFO : Using nmodl-nightly Package (Developer Version)")
-        package_name = 'nmodl-nightly'
-
-    assert (
-        package_name in working_set.by_key
-    ), "NMODL package not found! Verify PYTHONPATH"
-
-    NMODL_PREFIX = os.path.join(working_set.by_key[package_name].location, "nmodl")
-    NMODL_HOME = os.path.join(NMODL_PREFIX, ".data")
-    NMODL_BIN = os.path.join(NMODL_HOME, "bin")
-    NMODL_LIB = os.path.join(NMODL_HOME, "lib")
+    NMODL_PREFIX = files("nmodl")
+    NMODL_HOME = NMODL_PREFIX / ".data"
+    NMODL_BIN = NMODL_HOME / "bin"
 
     # add pywrapper path to environment
     if sys.platform == "darwin":
@@ -39,10 +29,12 @@
     os.environ["NMODL_PYLIB"] = find_libpython()
 
     # add nmodl home to environment (i.e. necessary for nrnunits.lib)
-    os.environ["NMODLHOME"] = NMODL_HOME
+    os.environ["NMODLHOME"] = str(NMODL_HOME)
 
     # set PYTHONPATH for embedded python to properly find the nmodl module
-    os.environ["PYTHONPATH"] = working_set.by_key[package_name].location + ':' + os.environ.get("PYTHONPATH", "")
+    os.environ["PYTHONPATH"] = (
+        str(NMODL_PREFIX.parent) + ":" + os.environ.get("PYTHONPATH", "")
+    )
 
     return os.path.join(NMODL_BIN, exe_name)
 
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/pybind/test_examples.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from json import loads
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from nmodl import dsl
+
+
+def test_example():
+    """
+    Test for the Python API from example
+    """
+
+    examples = dsl.list_examples()
+
+    # ordering may be off so we use a set
+    assert set(examples) == {"exp2syn.mod", "expsyn.mod", "hh.mod", "passive.mod"}
+
+    driver = dsl.NmodlDriver()
+    for example in examples:
+        nmodl_string = dsl.load_example(example)
+        # make sure we can parse the string
+        assert driver.parse_string(nmodl_string)
+