diff -rup a/swig/python/GNUmakefile b/swig/python/GNUmakefile
--- a/swig/python/GNUmakefile	2015-06-14 21:06:33.000000000 +0200
+++ b/swig/python/GNUmakefile	2015-07-27 18:24:17.135954561 +0200
@@ -67,11 +67,7 @@ egg:
 	
 install:
 
-ifeq ($(PY_HAVE_SETUPTOOLS),1)
-	$(PYTHON) setup.py install 
-else
-	$(PYTHON) setup.py install --prefix=$(DESTDIR)$(prefix)
-endif
+	$(PYTHON) setup.py install --prefix=$(prefix) --root=$(DESTDIR)
 
 	for f in $(SCRIPTS) ; do $(INSTALL) ./scripts/$$f $(DESTDIR)$(INST_BIN) ; done