sampleproject doesn't include files setup.py and setup.cfg (and maybe other) one of the latest published guides claims it should have

[kirisakow]

Configuring your project

Initial files

setup.py

The most important file is setup.py which exists at the root of your project directory. For an example, see the setup.py in the PyPA sample project.

setup.py serves two primary functions:

1. It’s the file where various aspects of your project are configured. The primary feature of setup.py is that it contains a global setup() function. The keyword arguments to this function are how specific details of your project are defined. The most relevant arguments are explained in the section below.

2. It’s the command line interface for running various commands that relate to packaging tasks. To get a listing of available commands, run python setup.py --help-commands.

setup.cfg

setup.cfg is an ini file that contains option defaults for setup.py commands. For an example, see the setup.cfg in the PyPA sample project.

[dmtucker]

The project has adopted PEP 621 metadata: #166
The guides on packaging.python.org should probably be updated.
https://github.com/pypa/packaging.python.org/blob/5c847adc5112a337f4f016f5671783de132bd1d3/source/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools.rst