diff --git a/cmake/bornagain/modules/BornAgainConfiguration.cmake b/cmake/bornagain/modules/BornAgainConfiguration.cmake
index 450d1a1039b106753a8a50eca94193fede38e8af..12f8042ac54b5dab2028b163de9eb1ff90ae79e9 100644
--- a/cmake/bornagain/modules/BornAgainConfiguration.cmake
+++ b/cmake/bornagain/modules/BornAgainConfiguration.cmake
@@ -162,10 +162,6 @@ configure_file(${TEMPLATE_DIR}/thisbornagain.csh.in
 
 if(BUILD_DEBIAN)
     set(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX "/usr")
-    execute_process(COMMAND "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}" -c
-        "from distutils import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_python_lib(1,0,prefix=None))"
-        OUTPUT_VARIABLE PYTHON_SITE_PACKAGES
-        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE )
     configure_file(${TEMPLATE_DIR}/postinst.in ${BUILD_VAR_DIR}/postinst @ONLY)
     configure_file(${TEMPLATE_DIR}/prerm.in ${BUILD_VAR_DIR}/prerm @ONLY)
     set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH \$ORIGIN/../;\$ORIGIN/../../lib/${destination_suffix})
diff --git a/cmake/bornagain/scripts/postinst.in b/cmake/bornagain/scripts/postinst.in
index 348e62577417a3c7183c5d176f9c9343e52054bf..0cf3b2537ad90fcd65a5d986d6f69175fa8ecc36 100644
--- a/cmake/bornagain/scripts/postinst.in
+++ b/cmake/bornagain/scripts/postinst.in
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ ${COMMAND}
 
 for item_to_link in bornagain libBornAgainCore.py _libBornAgainCore.so libBornAgainFit.py _libBornAgainFit.so _libBornAgainGUI.so
 do
- COMMAND="ln -sf @CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/lib/@destination_suffix@/${item_to_link} @PYTHON_SITE_PACKAGES@/"
+ COMMAND="ln -sf @CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/lib/@destination_suffix@/${item_to_link} @Python_SITELIB@/"
  echo ${COMMAND}
  ${COMMAND}
 done
diff --git a/cmake/bornagain/scripts/prerm.in b/cmake/bornagain/scripts/prerm.in
index 9c9abdb656c135792809d56d79aa2eb2e433c046..187ed33990b26ba1827648b710d76570280492e2 100644
--- a/cmake/bornagain/scripts/prerm.in
+++ b/cmake/bornagain/scripts/prerm.in
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 # removes created symbolic links
 
 
-rm -rf @PYTHON_SITE_PACKAGES@/*bornagain*
-rm -rf @PYTHON_SITE_PACKAGES@/*BornAgain*
+rm -rf @Python_SITELIB@/*bornagain*
+rm -rf @Python_SITELIB@/*BornAgain*
 
 rm -rf @CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/bin/bornagain