Replaced distutils with C version check

Tests/test_file_libtiff.py

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import base64
-import distutils.version
 import io
 import itertools
 import logging
@@ -272,12 +271,8 @@ class TestFileLibTiff(LibTiffTestCase):
             )
         }
 
-        libtiff_version = TiffImagePlugin._libtiff_version()
-
         libtiffs = [False]
-        if distutils.version.StrictVersion(
-            libtiff_version
-        ) >= distutils.version.StrictVersion("4.0"):
+        if Image.core.libtiff_v4_or_greater:
             libtiffs.append(True)
 
         for libtiff in libtiffs:

src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py

@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 #
 # See the README file for information on usage and redistribution.
 #
-import distutils.version
 import io
 import itertools
 import os
@@ -1559,11 +1558,10 @@ def _save(im, fp, filename):
             # Custom items are supported for int, float, unicode, string and byte
             # values. Other types and tuples require a tagtype.
             if tag not in TiffTags.LIBTIFF_CORE:
-                if TiffTags.lookup(tag).type == TiffTags.UNDEFINED:
-                    continue
-                if distutils.version.StrictVersion(
-                    _libtiff_version()
-                ) < distutils.version.StrictVersion("4.0"):
+                if (
+                    TiffTags.lookup(tag).type == TiffTags.UNDEFINED
+                    or not Image.core.libtiff_v4_or_greater
+                ):
                     continue
 
                 if tag in ifd.tagtype:

src/_imaging.c

@@ -82,6 +82,12 @@
 #include "zlib.h"
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBTIFF
+#ifndef _TIFFIO_
+#include <tiffio.h>
+#endif
+#endif
+
 #include "Imaging.h"
 
 #define _USE_MATH_DEFINES
@@ -3961,6 +3967,15 @@ setup_module(PyObject* m) {
   {
     extern const char * ImagingTiffVersion(void);
     PyDict_SetItemString(d, "libtiff_version", PyUnicode_FromString(ImagingTiffVersion()));
+
+    // Test for libtiff 4.0 or later, excluding libtiff 3.9.6 and 3.9.7
+    PyObject* v4_or_greater;
+#if TIFFLIB_VERSION >= 20111221 && TIFFLIB_VERSION != 20120218 && TIFFLIB_VERSION != 20120922
+    v4_or_greater = Py_True;
+#else
+    v4_or_greater = Py_False;
+#endif
+    PyDict_SetItemString(d, "libtiff_v4_or_greater", v4_or_greater);
   }
 #endif