diff --git a/cli/Makefile b/cli/Makefile
index 122a23fc..53814c29 100644
--- a/cli/Makefile
+++ b/cli/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 SUBDIRS=koji_cli
 
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
-PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) ../devtools/get_site_packages.py )/$(PACKAGE)
 
 FILES = koji
 
diff --git a/cli/koji_cli/Makefile b/cli/koji_cli/Makefile
index 62b8b53e..d73d17e2 100644
--- a/cli/koji_cli/Makefile
+++ b/cli/koji_cli/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
 
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
-PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) ../../devtools/get_site_packages.py )/$(PACKAGE)
 
 _default:
 	@echo "nothing to make.  try make install"
diff --git a/devtools/get_site_packages.py b/devtools/get_site_packages.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ab2fad03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devtools/get_site_packages.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# prints site-packages path for use in Makefiles
+
+try:
+    from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib
+    print(get_python_lib())
+except ImportError:
+    import sysconfig
+    print(sysconfig.get_path('purelib', 'rpm_prefix'))
diff --git a/koji/Makefile b/koji/Makefile
index b1dda3c4..2e6a2060 100644
--- a/koji/Makefile
+++ b/koji/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
 PYFILES_ALL = $(wildcard *.py)
 PYSCRIPTS =
 SUBDIRS =
-PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) ../devtools/get_site_packages.py )/$(PACKAGE)
 
 ifeq ($(PYVER_MAJOR),2)
 	PYFILES=$(filter-out db.py,$(PYFILES_ALL))
diff --git a/kojihub/Makefile b/kojihub/Makefile
index db9310aa..b387bb51 100644
--- a/kojihub/Makefile
+++ b/kojihub/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 PYVER_MAJOR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(".".join(sys.version.split(".")[:1]))')
 PACKAGE = kojihub
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
-PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) ../devtools/get_site_packages.py )/$(PACKAGE)
 
 SERVERDIR = /usr/share/koji-hub
 
diff --git a/plugins/Makefile b/plugins/Makefile
index 50fd89fe..ca46f2a4 100644
--- a/plugins/Makefile
+++ b/plugins/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 PYVER_MAJOR := $(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print(".".join(sys.version.split(".")[:1]))')
-PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) ../devtools/get_site_packages.py )/$(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 5fa67c07..892e961f 100644
--- a/www/lib/kojiweb/Makefile
+++ b/www/lib/kojiweb/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 PACKAGE = $(shell basename `pwd`)
 PYFILES = $(wildcard *.py)
-PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")/$(PACKAGE)
+PKGDIR = $(shell $(PYTHON) ../../devtools/get_site_packages.py )/$(PACKAGE)
 
 SERVERDIR = /kojiweb
 FILES = $(wildcard *.py *.chtml)