diff --git a/tools/perf/util/setup.py b/tools/perf/util/setup.py
index 09c3cea..73d5102 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/setup.py
+++ b/tools/perf/util/setup.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 build_lib = getenv('PYTHON_EXTBUILD_LIB')
 build_tmp = getenv('PYTHON_EXTBUILD_TMP')
+libtraceevent = getenv('LIBTRACEEVENT')
 
 ext_sources = [f.strip() for f in file('util/python-ext-sources')
 				if len(f.strip()) > 0 and f[0] != '#']
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@
 		  sources = ext_sources,
 		  include_dirs = ['util/include'],
 		  extra_compile_args = cflags,
-		  extra_objects = [build_tmp + '/../../libtraceevent.a'],
+		  extra_objects = [libtraceevent],
                  )
 
 setup(name='perf',