diff --git a/.github/workflows/cmake_builds.yml b/.github/workflows/cmake_builds.yml
index c26a6297e16b..5af88b2962dc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cmake_builds.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cmake_builds.yml
@@ -498,6 +498,7 @@ jobs:
     env:
         architecture: x64
         generator: Visual Studio 17 2022
+        GDAL_PYTHON_BINDINGS_WITHOUT_NUMPY: YES
     steps:
     # To avoid git clone to mess with the line endings of GDAL autotest data
     # files that look like text, but should be handled as binary content
diff --git a/ci/travis/conda/0001-Fix-build-of-Python-bindings-due-to-https-github.com.patch b/ci/travis/conda/0001-Fix-build-of-Python-bindings-due-to-https-github.com.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..19d6fe4db1f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/travis/conda/0001-Fix-build-of-Python-bindings-due-to-https-github.com.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+From c8e8942b5dd50d1abb4369662b0cb9d282c3bf69 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com>
+Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2023 19:06:08 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH] Fix build of Python bindings due to
+ https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/pull/8926 changes
+
+---
+ recipe/install_python.sh | 14 ++++++++------
+ 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/recipe/install_python.sh b/recipe/install_python.sh
+index 4bcd219..1561771 100644
+--- a/recipe/install_python.sh
++++ b/recipe/install_python.sh
+@@ -21,12 +21,14 @@ cmake "-UPython*" \
+ cmake --build . --target python_generated_files
+ cd swig/python
+ 
+-cat >pyproject.toml <<EOF
+-[build-system]
+-requires = ["setuptools>=40.8.0", "wheel"]
+-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+-EOF
+-
+ $PYTHON setup.py build_ext
+ 
++# Cf https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/pull/8926
++# The above build_ext has been run with numpy already installed in the environment
++# because otherwise it would have failed.
++# But as we run pip install without dependencies, we have to force
++# GDAL_PYTHON_BINDINGS_WITHOUT_NUMPY=YES to disable the related check.
++# This is OK here since the bindings have already been built, and it is just
++# a matter of bundling them in the wheel.
++export GDAL_PYTHON_BINDINGS_WITHOUT_NUMPY=YES
+ $PYTHON -m pip install --no-deps --ignore-installed .
+-- 
+2.25.1
+
diff --git a/ci/travis/conda/setup.sh b/ci/travis/conda/setup.sh
index d24f43e597fc..6692df1b9c29 100755
--- a/ci/travis/conda/setup.sh
+++ b/ci/travis/conda/setup.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ cd gdal-feedstock
 patch -p1 < ../ci/travis/conda/build.sh.patch
 patch -p1 --binary < ../ci/travis/conda/bld.bat.patch
 
+patch -p1 < ../ci/travis/conda/0001-Fix-build-of-Python-bindings-due-to-https-github.com.patch
+
 cat > recipe/recipe_clobber.yaml <<EOL
 source:
   path: ../../../gdal
diff --git a/ci/travis/osx/before_install.sh b/ci/travis/osx/before_install.sh
index 185d22e628fb..3f5cc827f46e 100755
--- a/ci/travis/osx/before_install.sh
+++ b/ci/travis/osx/before_install.sh
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ conda update -n base -c defaults conda
 conda install -y compilers automake pkgconfig cmake
 
 conda config --set channel_priority strict
-conda install --yes --quiet proj python=3.8 swig lxml jsonschema -y
+conda install --yes --quiet proj python=3.8 swig lxml jsonschema numpy -y
 conda install --yes --quiet libgdal=3.7.0=hc13fe4b_4  --only-deps -y
diff --git a/ci/travis/osx/install.sh b/ci/travis/osx/install.sh
index ccc0062dc7e9..3fe4a94ceb81 100755
--- a/ci/travis/osx/install.sh
+++ b/ci/travis/osx/install.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ find ${CONDA_PREFIX}/lib -name '*.la' -delete
 # build GDAL
 mkdir build
 cd build
+
+# to have an environment where we test this...
+export GDAL_PYTHON_BINDINGS_WITHOUT_NUMPY=YES
+
 # Disable Arrow/Parquet because the VM provides libraries in /usr/local/lib/
 # that cause Illegal instruction error when running tests. I suspect the
 # Arrow/Parquet libraries to be built with AVX2 support but the VM worker
diff --git a/swig/python/CMakeLists.txt b/swig/python/CMakeLists.txt
index a0c8eb123cbb..6899342eb758 100644
--- a/swig/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/swig/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ if (Python_Interpreter_FOUND)
   endif ()
 
   configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/README.rst ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/README.rst @ONLY)
+  configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pyproject.toml ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/pyproject.toml @ONLY)
 
   file(WRITE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/get_suffix.py
        "from importlib.machinery import EXTENSION_SUFFIXES; print(EXTENSION_SUFFIXES[0])\n")
@@ -203,8 +204,11 @@ if (Python_Interpreter_FOUND)
       GENERATE
       OUTPUT "${BUILD_EXT_FILENAME}"
       CONTENT
-        "file(REMOVE_RECURSE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/build)\n
-         execute_process(COMMAND $<IF:$<NOT:$<CONFIG:Debug>>,\"${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE}\" \"${SETUP_PY_FILENAME}\" build_ext --inplace,${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo \"setup.py build_ext only run in configuration != Debug\">)\n"
+        "file(REMOVE_RECURSE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/build)
+         execute_process(COMMAND $<IF:$<NOT:$<CONFIG:Debug>>,\"${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE}\" \"${SETUP_PY_FILENAME}\" build_ext --inplace,${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo \"setup.py build_ext only run in configuration != Debug\"> RESULT_VARIABLE res)
+         if(NOT res EQUAL 0)
+           message(FATAL_ERROR \"setup.py bdist_wheel failed\")
+         endif()"
       )
   else ()
     set(BUILD_EXT_FILENAME "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/build_ext.cmake")
@@ -213,7 +217,11 @@ if (Python_Interpreter_FOUND)
       OUTPUT "${BUILD_EXT_FILENAME}"
       CONTENT
          "file(REMOVE_RECURSE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/build)\n
-          execute_process(COMMAND \"${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE}\" \"${SETUP_PY_FILENAME}\" build_ext --inplace)\n")
+          execute_process(COMMAND \"${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE}\" \"${SETUP_PY_FILENAME}\" build_ext --inplace RESULT_VARIABLE res)
+          if(NOT res EQUAL 0)
+            message(FATAL_ERROR \"setup.py bdist_wheel failed\")
+          endif()"
+      )
   endif ()
 
   if(CMAKE_NM AND BUILD_SHARED_LIBS AND NOT _isMultiConfig)
@@ -300,6 +308,7 @@ if (Python_Interpreter_FOUND)
         symlink_or_copy("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/gdal-utils" "${INSTALL_WORKING_DIRECTORY}/gdal-utils")
         set(BUILD_EXT_WITH_RPATH_CONTENT)
         string(APPEND BUILD_EXT_WITH_RPATH_CONTENT "configure_file(\"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/README.rst\" \"${INSTALL_WORKING_DIRECTORY}/README.rst\" @ONLY)\n")
+        string(APPEND BUILD_EXT_WITH_RPATH_CONTENT "configure_file(\"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pyproject.toml\" \"${INSTALL_WORKING_DIRECTORY}/pyproject.toml\" @ONLY)\n")
         string(APPEND BUILD_EXT_WITH_RPATH_CONTENT "file(COPY \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/extensions\" DESTINATION \"${INSTALL_WORKING_DIRECTORY}\")\n")
         string(APPEND BUILD_EXT_WITH_RPATH_CONTENT "file(GLOB PY_FILES \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/osgeo/*.py\")\n")
         string(APPEND BUILD_EXT_WITH_RPATH_CONTENT "foreach(_file IN LISTS PY_FILES)\n")
@@ -336,11 +345,19 @@ if (Python_Interpreter_FOUND)
       GENERATE
       OUTPUT ${BUILD_BDIST_WHEEL_FILENAME}
       CONTENT
-        "execute_process(COMMAND $<IF:$<NOT:$<CONFIG:Debug>>,${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE} ${SETUP_PY_FILENAME} bdist_wheel,${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo \"setup.py bdist_wheel only run in configuration != Debug\">)"
+        "execute_process(COMMAND $<IF:$<NOT:$<CONFIG:Debug>>,${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE} ${SETUP_PY_FILENAME} bdist_wheel,${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo \"setup.py bdist_wheel only run in configuration != Debug\"> RESULT_VARIABLE res)
+        if(NOT res EQUAL 0)
+           message(FATAL_ERROR \"setup.py bdist_wheel failed\")
+        endif()
+        "
       )
   else ()
     set(BUILD_BDIST_WHEEL_FILENAME ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/build_bdist_wheel.cmake)
-    file(WRITE ${BUILD_BDIST_WHEEL_FILENAME} "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE} ${SETUP_PY_FILENAME} bdist_wheel)\n")
+    file(WRITE ${BUILD_BDIST_WHEEL_FILENAME}
+         "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python_EXECUTABLE_CMAKE} ${SETUP_PY_FILENAME} bdist_wheel RESULT_VARIABLE res)
+          if(NOT res EQUAL 0)
+            message(FATAL_ERROR \"setup.py bdist_wheel failed\")
+          endif()")
   endif ()
   add_custom_target(
     python_wheel
diff --git a/swig/python/README.rst b/swig/python/README.rst
index 96728e74d3e3..222b227e9e6b 100644
--- a/swig/python/README.rst
+++ b/swig/python/README.rst
@@ -48,17 +48,23 @@ GDAL can be installed from the `Python Package Index <https://pypi.org/project/G
 
 ::
 
-    pip install GDAL
+    pip install gdal
 
 It will be necessary to have libgdal and its development headers installed
 if pip is expected to do a source build because no wheel is available
 for your specified platform and Python version.
 
+To install with numpy support, you need to require the optional numpy component:
+
+::
+
+    pip install gdal[numpy]
+
 To install the version of the Python bindings matching your native GDAL library:
 
 ::
 
-    pip install GDAL=="$(gdal-config --version).*"
+    pip install gdal=="$(gdal-config --version).*"
 
 Building as part of the GDAL library source tree
 ------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/swig/python/pyproject.toml b/swig/python/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..48e0574e5321
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swig/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=61.0.0", "oldest-supported-numpy", "wheel"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "GDAL"
+dynamic = ["version", "scripts"]
+authors = [
+    {name = "Frank Warmerdam"},
+    {name = "Howard Butler"},
+    {name = "Even Rouault"},
+]
+maintainers = [
+    {name = "GDAL contributors", email = "gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org"},
+]
+description = "GDAL: Geospatial Data Abstraction Library"
+readme = "README.rst"
+keywords = ["gis", "raster", "vector"]
+license = {text = "MIT"}
+classifiers = [
+    "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
+    "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+    "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
+    "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+    "Operating System :: OS Independent",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+    "Programming Language :: C",
+    "Programming Language :: C++",
+    "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: GIS",
+    "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Information Analysis",
+]
+requires-python = ">=3.8"
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+numpy = ['numpy>1.0.0']
+
+[project.urls]
+Homepage = "https://gdal.org"
+Documentation = "https://gdal.org"
+Repository = "https://github.com/OSGeo/GDAL.git"
+Changelog = "https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/blob/master/NEWS.md"
+Issues = "https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/issues"
diff --git a/swig/python/setup.py.in b/swig/python/setup.py.in
index cc3bcff43f62..d48f46045003 100644
--- a/swig/python/setup.py.in
+++ b/swig/python/setup.py.in
@@ -184,15 +184,21 @@ if sys.platform == 'win32':
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 numpy_include_dir = '.'
+numpy_error_msg = ""
 try:
     numpy_include_dir = get_numpy_include()
     HAVE_NUMPY = numpy_include_dir != '.'
     if not HAVE_NUMPY:
-        print("WARNING: numpy found, but numpy headers were not found!  Array support will not be enabled")
+        numpy_error_msg = "numpy found, but numpy headers were not found!"
 except ImportError:
     HAVE_NUMPY = False
-    print('WARNING: numpy not available!  Array support will not be enabled')
+    numpy_error_msg = "numpy not available!"
 
+if not HAVE_NUMPY:
+   if "GDAL_PYTHON_BINDINGS_WITHOUT_NUMPY" in os.environ:
+      print("WARNING: " + numpy_error_msg + " Array support will not be enabled.")
+   else:
+      raise Exception(numpy_error_msg + " This error may happen if you build/install using setup.py directly, but should normally not happen if you install using pip install. If you still want to build the bindings without numpy support, define the GDAL_PYTHON_BINDINGS_WITHOUT_NUMPY environment variable")
 
 class gdal_ext(build_ext):
 
@@ -369,8 +375,8 @@ readme = open('README.rst', encoding="utf-8").read()
 name = 'GDAL'
 author = "Frank Warmerdam"
 author_email = "warmerdam@pobox.com"
-maintainer = "Howard Butler"
-maintainer_email = "hobu.inc@gmail.com"
+maintainer = "GDAL contributors"
+maintainer_email = "gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org"
 description = "GDAL: Geospatial Data Abstraction Library"
 license_type = "MIT"
 url = "http://www.gdal.org"
@@ -426,7 +432,7 @@ setup(
     packages=packages,
     package_dir=package_dir,
     url=url,
-    python_requires='>=3.6.0',
+    python_requires='>=3.8.0',
     ext_modules=ext_modules,
     scripts=glob(utils_package_root + '/scripts/*.py'),
     # This must *not* be conditionalized by HAVE_NUMPY, since this is for a "pip install gdal[numpy]" type of installation