diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
index 2281e9665c5..efd56ae32cc 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
@@ -943,6 +943,7 @@ def config_vars(self):
             version = self.version.up_to(2)
             config = {
                 # get_config_vars
+                'BINDIR': self.prefix.bin,
                 'CC': 'cc',
                 'CXX': 'c++',
                 'INCLUDEPY': self.prefix.include.join('python{}').format(version),