diff --git a/cli/Makefile b/cli/Makefile
index d5cca841..ddaeba36 100644
--- a/cli/Makefile
+++ b/cli/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 SUBDIRS=koji_cli
 
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
-PYVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%.3s" %(sys.version))')
-PYSYSDIR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)')
-PYLIBDIR = $(PYSYSDIR)/lib/python$(PYVER)
-PKGDIR = $(PYLIBDIR)/site-packages
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")/$(PACKAGE)
 
 FILES = koji
 
diff --git a/cli/koji_cli/Makefile b/cli/koji_cli/Makefile
index c7c460a9..fd669298 100644
--- a/cli/koji_cli/Makefile
+++ b/cli/koji_cli/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
 
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
-PYVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%.3s" % (sys.version))')
-PYSYSDIR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)')
-PYLIBDIR = $(PYSYSDIR)/lib/python$(PYVER)
-PKGDIR = $(PYLIBDIR)/site-packages/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")/$(PACKAGE)
 
 _default:
 	@echo "nothing to make.  try make install"
diff --git a/hub/Makefile b/hub/Makefile
index e8fe6517..6881f63b 100644
--- a/hub/Makefile
+++ b/hub/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
-PYVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%.3s" %(sys.version))')
-PYSYSDIR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)')
-PYLIBDIR = $(PYSYSDIR)/lib/python$(PYVER)
-PKGDIR = $(PYLIBDIR)/site-packages/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")/$(PACKAGE)
 
 SERVERDIR = /usr/share/koji-hub
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
diff --git a/koji.spec b/koji.spec
index 2b21ef0b..a5f3d789 100644
--- a/koji.spec
+++ b/koji.spec
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
 # not yet to RHEL proper.
 # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1307190
 %{!?__python2: %global __python2 /usr/bin/python2}
-%{!?python2_sitelib: %global python2_sitelib %(%{__python2} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")}
+%{!?python2_sitearch: %global python2_sitearch %(%{__python2} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")}
 %{!?python2_sitearch: %global python2_sitearch %(%{__python2} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib(1))")}
 %{!?py2_build: %global py2_build %{expand: CFLAGS="%{optflags}" %{__python2} setup.py %{?py_setup_args} build --executable="%{__python2} -s"}}
 %{!?py2_install: %global py2_install %{expand: CFLAGS="%{optflags}" %{__python2} setup.py %{?py_setup_args} install -O1 --skip-build --root %{buildroot}}}
@@ -472,19 +472,19 @@ rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
 
 %if 0%{py2_support}
 %files -n python2-%{name}
-%{python2_sitelib}/%{name}
-%{python2_sitelib}/koji_cli
+%{python2_sitearch}/%{name}
+%{python2_sitearch}/koji_cli
 %endif
 
 %if 0%{py3_support}
 %files -n python%{python3_pkgversion}-koji
-%{python3_sitelib}/%{name}
-%{python3_sitelib}/koji_cli
+%{python3_sitearch}/%{name}
+%{python3_sitearch}/koji_cli
 %endif
 
 %if 0%{py2_support}
 %files -n python2-%{name}-cli-plugins
-%{python2_sitelib}/koji_cli_plugins
+%{python2_sitearch}/koji_cli_plugins
 # we don't have config files for default plugins yet
 #%%dir %%{_sysconfdir}/koji/plugins
 #%%config(noreplace) %%{_sysconfdir}/koji/plugins/*.conf
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
 
 %if 0%{py3_support}
 %files -n python%{python3_pkgversion}-%{name}-cli-plugins
-%{python3_sitelib}/koji_cli_plugins
+%{python3_sitearch}/koji_cli_plugins
 # we don't have config files for default plugins yet
 #%%dir %%{_sysconfdir}/koji/plugins
 #%%config(noreplace) %%{_sysconfdir}/koji/plugins/*.conf
diff --git a/koji/Makefile b/koji/Makefile
index df2991c7..2b6f3d46 100644
--- a/koji/Makefile
+++ b/koji/Makefile
@@ -2,10 +2,7 @@ PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
 PYSCRIPTS =
 SUBDIRS =
-PYVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%.3s" % (sys.version))')
-PYSYSDIR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)')
-PYLIBDIR = $(PYSYSDIR)/lib/python$(PYVER)
-PKGDIR = $(PYLIBDIR)/site-packages/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")/$(PACKAGE)
 
 _default:
 	@echo "nothing to make.  try make install"
diff --git a/plugins/Makefile b/plugins/Makefile
index 690e5c36..10f71e21 100644
--- a/plugins/Makefile
+++ b/plugins/Makefile
@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
-PYMAJORVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.version_info[0])')
-PYVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%.3s" %(sys.version))')
-PYSYSDIR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)')
-PYLIBDIR = $(PYSYSDIR)/lib/python$(PYVER)
-PKGDIR = $(PYLIBDIR)/site-packages
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")/$(PACKAGE)
 
 CLIPLUGINDIR = $(PKGDIR)/koji_cli_plugins
 HUBPLUGINDIR = /usr/lib/koji-hub-plugins
diff --git a/www/lib/kojiweb/Makefile b/www/lib/kojiweb/Makefile
index e23fb4db..8ea37595 100644
--- a/www/lib/kojiweb/Makefile
+++ b/www/lib/kojiweb/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
-PYVER := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%.3s" % (sys.version))')
-PYSYSDIR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)')
-PYLIBDIR = $(PYSYSDIR)/lib/python$(PYVER)
-PKGDIR = $(PYLIBDIR)/site-packages/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")/$(PACKAGE)
 
 SERVERDIR = /kojiweb
 FILES = $(wildcard *.py *.chtml)