diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b6aa3bba8a0..dae28e5b9b9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ RPMVERSION := $(shell awk '/Version/{print $$2; exit}' < $(RPMSPEC) | cut -d "%"
 RPMRELEASE := $(shell awk '/Release/{print $$2; exit}' < $(RPMSPEC) | cut -d "%" -f1)
 RPMDIST = $(shell rpm --eval '%dist')
 RPMNVR = "$(NAME)-$(RPMVERSION)-$(RPMRELEASE)$(RPMDIST)"
+# Python distutils options
+DUDIR = packaging/distutils
+DUSETUP = $(DUDIR)/setup.py
+DUMANIFEST = $(DUDIR)/MANIFEST.in
+
 
 all: clean python
 
@@ -65,15 +70,15 @@ clean:
 	rm -rf MANIFEST rpm-build
 
 python:
-	python setup.py build
+	python $(DUSETUP) build
 
 install:
 	mkdir -p /usr/share/ansible
 	cp ./library/* /usr/share/ansible/
-	python setup.py install
+	python $(DUSETUP) install
 
 sdist: clean
-	python ./setup.py sdist
+	python ./$(DUSETUP) sdist -t $(DUMANIFEST)
 
 rpmcommon: sdist
 	@mkdir -p rpm-build
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/packaging/distutils/MANIFEST.in
similarity index 78%
rename from MANIFEST.in
rename to packaging/distutils/MANIFEST.in
index 60bc97f1872..4765bd548dd 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/packaging/distutils/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 include README.md packaging/rpm/ansible.spec
 include examples/hosts
+include packaging/distutils/setup.py
 recursive-include docs *
 recursive-include library *
 include Makefile
diff --git a/setup.py b/packaging/distutils/setup.py
similarity index 100%
rename from setup.py
rename to packaging/distutils/setup.py
diff --git a/packaging/rpm/ansible.spec b/packaging/rpm/ansible.spec
index 9a394d51359..bd1350e73d6 100644
--- a/packaging/rpm/ansible.spec
+++ b/packaging/rpm/ansible.spec
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 %{!?python_sitelib: %global python_sitelib %(%{__python} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")}
 BuildRoot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-buildroot
 %endif
+%define _dusetup   packaging/distutils/setup.py
+
 
 Name: ansible
 Release: 1%{?dist}
@@ -33,10 +35,10 @@ are transferred to managed machines automatically.
 %setup -q
 
 %build
-%{__python} setup.py build
+%{__python} %{_dusetup} build
 
 %install
-%{__python} setup.py install -O1 --root=$RPM_BUILD_ROOT
+%{__python} %{_dusetup} install -O1 --root=$RPM_BUILD_ROOT
 mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/etc/ansible/
 cp examples/hosts $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/etc/ansible/
 mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/%{_mandir}/man1/