diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py
index bbaad7dc7b1..86a40947b4c 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py
@@ -282,6 +282,9 @@ def run (self):
         # build package
         log.info("building RPMs")
         rpm_cmd = ['rpm']
+        if os.path.exists('/usr/bin/rpmbuild') or \
+           os.path.exists('/bin/rpmbuild'):
+            rpm_cmd = ['rpmbuild']
         if self.source_only: # what kind of RPMs?
             rpm_cmd.append('-bs')
         elif self.binary_only: