diff --git a/build/SConstruct b/build/SConstruct
index 0f688ac3b..e33373243 100644
--- a/build/SConstruct
+++ b/build/SConstruct
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ if not os.path.isdir('ext'):
           % EXT_SRCDIR
     sys.exit(1)
 
+# tell python where to find m5 python code
+sys.path.append(os.path.join(SRCDIR, 'python'))
+
 
 ###################################################
 #
diff --git a/python/SConscript b/python/SConscript
index 8404bc4bd..9c15c6d50 100644
--- a/python/SConscript
+++ b/python/SConscript
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ import os, os.path, re, sys
 
 Import('env')
 
-# tell python where to find m5 python code
-sys.path.append(os.path.join(env['SRCDIR'], 'python'))
-
 import m5scons
 
 def WriteEmbeddedPyFile(target, source, path, name, ext, filename):