diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index eca0e25f0..4be45d0a0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1158,8 +1158,8 @@ AS_IF([test "x$enable_python" != "xno"],[
 
         AC_MSG_CHECKING([for Python extension suffix (PEP-3149)])
         if test -z "$PYTHON_EXT_SUFFIX"; then
-            python_ext_suffix=`$PYTHON -c "import sysconfig; \
-                                         print (sysconfig.get_config_var('EXT_SUFFIX') or sysconfig.get_config_var('SO'))"`
+            python_ext_suffix=`$PYTHON -c "import distutils.sysconfig; \
+                                         print (distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('EXT_SUFFIX') or distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('SO'))"`
             PYTHON_EXT_SUFFIX=$python_ext_suffix
         fi
         AC_MSG_RESULT([$PYTHON_EXT_SUFFIX])