diff --git a/package/opencv3/opencv3.mk b/package/opencv3/opencv3.mk
index 29fb246e65..5064496ca6 100644
--- a/package/opencv3/opencv3.mk
+++ b/package/opencv3/opencv3.mk
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ OPENCV3_CONF_OPTS += \
 	-DPYTHON3_NUMPY_VERSION=$(PYTHON_NUMPY_VERSION)
 OPENCV3_DEPENDENCIES += python3
 OPENCV3_KEEP_PY_FILES += usr/lib/python$(PYTHON3_VERSION_MAJOR)/site-packages/cv2/config*.py
-OPENCV3_CONF_ENV += $(PKG_PYTHON_DISTUTILS_ENV)
+OPENCV3_CONF_ENV += $(PKG_PYTHON_SETUPTOOLS_ENV)
 OPENCV3_DEPENDENCIES += python-numpy
 else
 OPENCV3_CONF_OPTS += \