diff --git a/extra_dependencies.txt b/extra_dependencies.txt
index 3a3f15ea4..e5c5a19d9 100644
--- a/extra_dependencies.txt
+++ b/extra_dependencies.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# this file is currently not used due to a problem with setuptools
+# the extra dependencies are currently specified in the setup.py file
+
 # FORMAT
 # Put your extra requirements here in the following format
 #
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 320d6d06a..4116b8e36 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ def get_version(rel_path):
 
 
 def get_extra_requires(path, add_all=True):
+    """Currently not used. Dependencies are
+    hard-coded below. We currently have a problem
+    with setuptools and external extra dependency file"""
     with open(path) as fp:
         extra_deps = defaultdict(set)
         for line in fp:
@@ -76,6 +79,11 @@ def get_extra_requires(path, add_all=True):
         'quadprog',
         'setuptools<=59.5.0'
     ],
-    extras_require=get_extra_requires('extra_dependencies.txt', add_all=True)
+    # extras_require=get_extra_requires('extra_dependencies.txt',
+    #                                   add_all=True)
+    extras_require={'extra': ['higher', 'ctrl-benchmark'], 'rl': ['gym'],
+                    'detection': ['pycocotools', 'lvis'],
+                    'all': ['higher', 'ctrl-benchmark', 'gym',
+                            'pycocotools', 'lvis']}
 )