diff --git a/python-PyYAML.spec b/python-PyYAML.spec
index cb4eb8b..826a577 100644
--- a/python-PyYAML.spec
+++ b/python-PyYAML.spec
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ configuration files to object serialization and persistance.
 
 %build
 export CFLAGS="%{optflags}"
+export PYYAML_FORCE_LIBYAML=0  # we don't actually want to build the python lib
 %python_build
 # Fix example permissions.
 find examples/ -type f | xargs chmod a-x