diff --git a/redis/connection.py b/redis/connection.py
index 2f91fae890..6ff3650805 100755
--- a/redis/connection.py
+++ b/redis/connection.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from packaging.version import Version
 from itertools import chain
 from time import time
 from queue import LifoQueue, Empty, Full
@@ -55,13 +55,13 @@
 if HIREDIS_AVAILABLE:
     import hiredis
 
-    hiredis_version = LooseVersion(hiredis.__version__)
+    hiredis_version = Version(hiredis.__version__)
     HIREDIS_SUPPORTS_CALLABLE_ERRORS = \
-        hiredis_version >= LooseVersion('0.1.3')
+        hiredis_version >= Version('0.1.3')
     HIREDIS_SUPPORTS_BYTE_BUFFER = \
-        hiredis_version >= LooseVersion('0.1.4')
+        hiredis_version >= Version('0.1.4')
     HIREDIS_SUPPORTS_ENCODING_ERRORS = \
-        hiredis_version >= LooseVersion('1.0.0')
+        hiredis_version >= Version('1.0.0')
 
     HIREDIS_USE_BYTE_BUFFER = True
     # only use byte buffer if hiredis supports it
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9f8d5502da..f1e7e7ecdc 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 deprecated
+packaging
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6c712bd1d4..9acb501633 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@
     author_email="oss@redis.com",
     python_requires=">=3.6",
     install_requires=[
-        'deprecated'
+        'deprecated==1.2.3',
+        'packaging==21.3',
     ],
     classifiers=[
         "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 33c397194d..dd68274f2d 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ extras =
 setenv =
     CLUSTER_URL = "redis://localhost:16379/0"
 commands =
-    redis: pytest --cov=./ --cov-report=xml:coverage_redis.xml -W always -m 'not onlycluster' {posargs}
+    standalone: pytest --cov=./ --cov-report=xml:coverage_redis.xml -W always -m 'not onlycluster' {posargs}
     cluster: pytest --cov=./ --cov-report=xml:coverage_cluster.xml -W always -m 'not onlynoncluster and not redismod' --redis-url={env:CLUSTER_URL:} {posargs}
 
 [testenv:devenv]