diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile b/tools/perf/Makefile
index f9126f8..c1c6e11 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile
@@ -184,9 +184,22 @@ SCRIPT_SH += perf-archive.sh
 grep-libs = $(filter -l%,$(1))
 strip-libs = $(filter-out -l%,$(1))
 
+TRACE_EVENT_DIR = ../lib/traceevent/
+
+ifneq ($(OUTPUT),)
+	TE_PATH=$(OUTPUT)
+else
+	TE_PATH=$(TRACE_EVENT_DIR)
+endif
+
+LIBTRACEEVENT = $(TE_PATH)libtraceevent.a
+TE_LIB := -L$(TE_PATH) -ltraceevent
+
 PYTHON_EXT_SRCS := $(shell grep -v ^\# util/python-ext-sources)
 PYTHON_EXT_DEPS := util/python-ext-sources util/setup.py
 
+export LIBTRACEEVENT
+
 $(OUTPUT)python/perf.so: $(PYTHON_EXT_SRCS) $(PYTHON_EXT_DEPS)
 	$(QUIET_GEN)CFLAGS='$(BASIC_CFLAGS)' $(PYTHON_WORD) util/setup.py \
 	  --quiet build_ext; \
@@ -198,17 +211,6 @@ $(OUTPUT)python/perf.so: $(PYTHON_EXT_SRCS) $(PYTHON_EXT_DEPS)
 
 SCRIPTS = $(patsubst %.sh,%,$(SCRIPT_SH))
 
-TRACE_EVENT_DIR = ../lib/traceevent/
-
-ifneq ($(OUTPUT),)
-	TE_PATH=$(OUTPUT)
-else
-	TE_PATH=$(TRACE_EVENT_DIR)
-endif
-
-LIBTRACEEVENT = $(TE_PATH)libtraceevent.a
-TE_LIB := -L$(TE_PATH) -ltraceevent
-
 #
 # Single 'perf' binary right now:
 #
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 @@ cflags += getenv('CFLAGS', '').split()
 
 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 @@ perf = Extension('perf',
 		  sources = ext_sources,
 		  include_dirs = ['util/include'],
 		  extra_compile_args = cflags,
-		  extra_objects = [build_tmp + '/../../libtraceevent.a'],
+		  extra_objects = [libtraceevent],
                  )
 
 setup(name='perf',