--- a
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+from pkg_resources import parse_version
+from configparser import ConfigParser
+import setuptools
+assert parse_version(setuptools.__version__)>=parse_version('36.2')
+
+# note: all settings are in settings.ini; edit there, not here
+config = ConfigParser(delimiters=['='])
+config.read('settings.ini')
+cfg = config['DEFAULT']
+
+cfg_keys = 'version description keywords author author_email'.split()
+expected = cfg_keys + "lib_name user branch license status min_python audience language".split()
+for o in expected: assert o in cfg, "missing expected setting: {}".format(o)
+setup_cfg = {o:cfg[o] for o in cfg_keys}
+
+licenses = {
+    'apache2': ('Apache Software License 2.0','OSI Approved :: Apache Software License'),
+    'mit': ('MIT License', 'OSI Approved :: MIT License'),
+    'gpl2': ('GNU General Public License v2', 'OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v2 (GPLv2)'),
+    'gpl3': ('GNU General Public License v3', 'OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3)'),
+    'bsd3': ('BSD License', 'OSI Approved :: BSD License'),
+}
+statuses = [ '1 - Planning', '2 - Pre-Alpha', '3 - Alpha',
+    '4 - Beta', '5 - Production/Stable', '6 - Mature', '7 - Inactive' ]
+py_versions = '3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10'.split()
+
+requirements = cfg.get('requirements','').split()
+if cfg.get('pip_requirements'): requirements += cfg.get('pip_requirements','').split()
+min_python = cfg['min_python']
+lic = licenses.get(cfg['license'].lower(), (cfg['license'], None))
+dev_requirements = (cfg.get('dev_requirements') or '').split()
+
+setuptools.setup(
+    name = cfg['lib_name'],
+    license = lic[0],
+    classifiers = [
+        'Development Status :: ' + statuses[int(cfg['status'])],
+        'Intended Audience :: ' + cfg['audience'].title(),
+        'Natural Language :: ' + cfg['language'].title(),
+    ] + ['Programming Language :: Python :: '+o for o in py_versions[py_versions.index(min_python):]] + (['License :: ' + lic[1] ] if lic[1] else []),
+    url = cfg['git_url'],
+    packages = setuptools.find_packages(),
+    include_package_data = True,
+    install_requires = requirements,
+    extras_require={ 'dev': dev_requirements },
+    dependency_links = cfg.get('dep_links','').split(),
+    python_requires  = '>=' + cfg['min_python'],
+    long_description = open('README.md').read(),
+    long_description_content_type = 'text/markdown',
+    zip_safe = False,
+    entry_points = {
+        'console_scripts': cfg.get('console_scripts','').split(),
+        'nbdev': [f'{cfg.get("lib_path")}={cfg.get("lib_path")}._modidx:d']
+    },
+    **setup_cfg)
+
+