From 28d5eeb941f33a213943b8d2e3e184e88312ad30 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jay Hemnani <193022578+jayhemnani9910@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2026 03:22:44 +0530
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] Declare packaging as a dependency

pvlib.tools imports packaging since #2924, but it was only in the test
extra, so a fresh install failed on import.
---
 docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst | 2 ++
 pyproject.toml                          | 1 +
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst
index 5893d8bf46..e7359a965b 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ Bug fixes
   is scalar (:issue:`2881`, :pull:`2882`)
 * :py:func:`pvlib.scaling.wvm` no longer returns all NaNs when ``positions``
   contains a single site (:issue:`2895`, :pull:`2896`)
+* Declare ``packaging`` as a dependency, so ``import pvlib`` works on a fresh
+  install. (:pull:`2941`)
 
 Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index de7fbb7fb8..37c06d0f41 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ dependencies = [
     'scipy >= 1.9.2',
     'h5py',
     'tzdata', # ensure all timezones are available in all installs for consistency GH#2795
+    'packaging',
 ]
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
 classifiers = [

From efecb3cd2250628c9708e4e3b146ebd870eeb386 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jay Hemnani <193022578+jayhemnani9910@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2026 12:48:13 +0530
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] Drop packaging from the test extra, now that it is a
 dependency

---
 pyproject.toml | 1 -
 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 37c06d0f41..cd3b3a8ba5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ test = [
     'pytest-timeout',
     'pytest-rerunfailures',
     'pytest-remotedata',
-    'packaging',
 ]
 all = ["pvlib[test,optional,doc]"]
 

From c6baa0ec2b7ba72747ea6c9b200a39f7c46856a5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jay Hemnani <193022578+jayhemnani9910@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2026 10:24:45 +0530
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] Use pandas.util.version instead of packaging in tools.py

---
 docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst | 4 ++--
 pvlib/tools.py                          | 2 +-
 pyproject.toml                          | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst
index e7359a965b..b69a47c514 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.2.rst
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ Bug fixes
   is scalar (:issue:`2881`, :pull:`2882`)
 * :py:func:`pvlib.scaling.wvm` no longer returns all NaNs when ``positions``
   contains a single site (:issue:`2895`, :pull:`2896`)
-* Declare ``packaging`` as a dependency, so ``import pvlib`` works on a fresh
-  install. (:pull:`2941`)
+* ``import pvlib`` no longer fails on a fresh install without ``packaging``.
+  (:pull:`2941`)
 
 Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/pvlib/tools.py b/pvlib/tools.py
index a81306b60c..016a12513f 100644
--- a/pvlib/tools.py
+++ b/pvlib/tools.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
-from packaging.version import Version
+from pandas.util.version import Version
 import zoneinfo
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cd3b3a8ba5..de7fbb7fb8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ dependencies = [
     'scipy >= 1.9.2',
     'h5py',
     'tzdata', # ensure all timezones are available in all installs for consistency GH#2795
-    'packaging',
 ]
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
 classifiers = [
@@ -77,6 +76,7 @@ test = [
     'pytest-timeout',
     'pytest-rerunfailures',
     'pytest-remotedata',
+    'packaging',
 ]
 all = ["pvlib[test,optional,doc]"]