--- Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py.orig	2009-04-20 08:25:43.000000000 +0300
+++ Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py	2009-04-20 08:27:50.000000000 +0300
@@ -19,9 +19,16 @@
 from distutils.errors import DistutilsPlatformError
 
 # These are needed in a couple of spots, so just compute them once.
+SYSROOT = os.getenv('SYSROOT')
 PREFIX = os.path.normpath(sys.prefix)
 EXEC_PREFIX = os.path.normpath(sys.exec_prefix)
 
+# Make sure we respect the user specified SYSROOT environment variable
+# This is the first step to get distutils to crosscompile stuff
+if SYSROOT is not None:
+    PREFIX = os.path.normpath(SYSROOT+os.path.sep+PREFIX)
+    EXEC_PREFIX = os.path.normpath(SYSROOT+os.path.sep+EXEC_PREFIX)
+
 # Path to the base directory of the project. On Windows the binary may
 # live in project/PCBuild9.  If we're dealing with an x64 Windows build,
 # it'll live in project/PCbuild/amd64.
@@ -110,6 +117,10 @@
 
     If 'prefix' is supplied, use it instead of sys.prefix or
     sys.exec_prefix -- i.e., ignore 'plat_specific'.
+
+    For the posix system we can not always assume to have a lib64 directory
+    e.g. for cross-compile between 32 & 64 bit systems. So we test if the
+    'lib64' directory exists and use the normal 'lib' dir as fallback.
     """
     if prefix is None:
         prefix = plat_specific and EXEC_PREFIX or PREFIX
@@ -118,6 +129,12 @@
         libpython = os.path.join(prefix,
                                 "@@GENTOO_LIBDIR@@",
                                 "python" + get_python_version())
+
+        if not os.path.exists(libpython):
+            libpython = os.path.join(prefix,
+                                     "lib", 
+                                     "python" + get_python_version())
+
         if standard_lib:
             return libpython
         else: