1 files changed, 1 insertions, 15 deletions
diff --git a/sphinx/setup_command.py b/sphinx/setup_command.py
index 58f6c8256..9c83bbcc8 100644
--- a/sphinx/setup_command.py
+++ b/sphinx/setup_command.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 from distutils.cmd import Command
-from distutils.errors import DistutilsExecError, DistutilsOptionError
+from distutils.errors import DistutilsExecError
 from io import StringIO
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
@@ -121,20 +121,6 @@ class BuildDoc(Command):
                     return root
         return os.curdir
 
-    # Overriding distutils' Command._ensure_stringlike which doesn't support
-    # unicode, causing finalize_options to fail if invoked again. Workaround
-    # for https://bugs.python.org/issue19570
-    def _ensure_stringlike(self, option, what, default=None):
-        # type: (str, str, Any) -> Any
-        val = getattr(self, option)
-        if val is None:
-            setattr(self, option, default)
-            return default
-        elif not isinstance(val, str):
-            raise DistutilsOptionError("'%s' must be a %s (got `%s`)"
-                                       % (option, what, val))
-        return val
-
     def finalize_options(self):
         # type: () -> None
         self.ensure_string_list('builder')