diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 84fe9fcf0..7c01bce81 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
   Jamroot.jam \
   CMakeLists.txt \
   LICENSE \
+  bindings/python/compile_flags  \
+  bindings/python/link_flags  \
   libtorrent-rasterbar.pc  \
   libtorrent-rasterbar-cmake.pc  \
   $(DOCS_PAGES) \
diff --git a/bindings/python/compile_flags.in b/bindings/python/compile_flags.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..14fce1abb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings/python/compile_flags.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@COMPILETIME_OPTIONS@ @CPPFLAGS@ @LIBS@ @BOOST_SYSTEM_LIB@ @BOOST_PYTHON_LIB@ @PTHREAD_LIBS@ @OPENSSL_LIBS@ @OPENSSL_LDFLAGS@ @OPENSSL_INCLUDES@
diff --git a/bindings/python/link_flags.in b/bindings/python/link_flags.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3c1da5b14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings/python/link_flags.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@LDFLAGS@
diff --git a/bindings/python/setup.py b/bindings/python/setup.py
index 8f92c566f..fd4613038 100644
--- a/bindings/python/setup.py
+++ b/bindings/python/setup.py
@@ -7,48 +7,108 @@ import platform
 import sys
 import shutil
 import multiprocessing
+import subprocess
 
-if not '--help' in sys.argv \
-	and not '--help-commands' in sys.argv:
+def parse_cmd(cmdline, prefix, keep_prefix = False):
+	ret = []
+	for token in cmdline.split():
+		if token[:len(prefix)] == prefix:
+			if keep_prefix:
+				ret.append(token)
+			else:
+				ret.append(token[len(prefix):])
+	return ret
 
-	toolset = ''
-	file_ext = '.so'
+def arch():
+	if platform.system() != 'Darwin': return []
+	a = os.uname()[4]
+	if a == 'Power Macintosh': a = 'ppc'
+	return ['-arch', a]
 
-	if platform.system() == 'Windows':
-		# msvc 9.0 (2008) is the official windows compiler for python 2.6
-		# http://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.6.html#build-and-c-api-changes
-		toolset = ' msvc-9.0'
-		file_ext = '.pyd'
+def target_specific():
 
-	parallell_builds = ' -j%d' % multiprocessing.cpu_count()
+	if platform.system() != 'Darwin': return []
 
-	# build libtorrent using bjam and build the installer with distutils
+	# on mavericks, clang will fail when unknown arguments are
+	# passed in. python distutils will pass in arguments it doesn't
+	# know about
+	return ['-Wno-error=unused-command-line-argument-hard-error-in-future']
 
-	cmdline = 'bjam boost=source link=static geoip=static boost-link=static release optimization=space stage_module --abbreviate-paths' + toolset + parallell_builds
-	print cmdline
-	if os.system(cmdline) != 0:
-		print('build failed')
-		sys.exit(1)
+try:
+	extra_cmd = open('compile_flags').read()
+except:
+	extra_cmd = None
 
-	try: os.mkdir('build')
-	except: pass
-	try: shutil.rmtree('build/lib')
-	except: pass
-	try: os.mkdir('build/lib')
-	except: pass
-	try: os.mkdir('libtorrent')
-	except: pass
-	shutil.copyfile('libtorrent' + file_ext, 'build/lib/libtorrent' + file_ext)
+try:
+	ldflags = open('link_flags').read()
+except:
+	ldflags = None
 
-setup( name='python-libtorrent',
-	version='1.0.0',
+ext = None
+packages = None
+
+if '--bjam' in sys.argv or ldflags == None or extra_cmd == None:
+
+	del sys.argv[sys.argv.index('--bjam')]
+
+	if not '--help' in sys.argv \
+		and not '--help-commands' in sys.argv:
+
+		toolset = ''
+		file_ext = '.so'
+
+		if platform.system() == 'Windows':
+			# msvc 9.0 (2008) is the official windows compiler for python 2.6
+			# http://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.6.html#build-and-c-api-changes
+			toolset = ' msvc-9.0'
+			file_ext = '.pyd'
+
+		parallell_builds = ' -j%d' % multiprocessing.cpu_count()
+
+		# build libtorrent using bjam and build the installer with distutils
+		cmdline = 'bjam boost=source link=static geoip=static boost-link=static release optimization=space stage_module --abbreviate-paths' + toolset + parallell_builds
+		print cmdline
+		if os.system(cmdline) != 0:
+			print('build failed')
+			sys.exit(1)
+
+		try: os.mkdir('build')
+		except: pass
+		try: shutil.rmtree('build/lib')
+		except: pass
+		try: os.mkdir('build/lib')
+		except: pass
+		try: os.mkdir('libtorrent')
+		except: pass
+		shutil.copyfile('libtorrent' + file_ext, 'build/lib/libtorrent' + file_ext)
+
+	packages = ['libtorrent']
+
+else:
+
+	source_list = os.listdir(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "src"))
+	source_list = [os.path.join("src", s) for s in source_list if s.endswith(".cpp")]
+
+	ext = [Extension('libtorrent',
+		sources = source_list,
+		language='c++',
+		include_dirs = ['../../include'] + parse_cmd(extra_cmd, '-I'),
+		library_dirs = ['../../src/.libs'] + parse_cmd(extra_cmd, '-L'),
+		extra_link_args = ldflags.split() + arch(),
+		extra_compile_args = parse_cmd(extra_cmd, '-D', True) + arch() \
+			+ target_specific(),
+		libraries = ['torrent-rasterbar'] + parse_cmd(extra_cmd, '-l'))]
+
+setup(name = 'python-libtorrent',
+	version = '1.0.0',
 	author = 'Arvid Norberg',
-	author_email='arvid@rasterbar.com',
+	author_email = 'arvid@rasterbar.com',
 	description = 'Python bindings for libtorrent-rasterbar',
 	long_description = 'Python bindings for libtorrent-rasterbar',
 	url = 'http://libtorrent.org',
 	platforms = [platform.system() + '-' + platform.machine()],
 	license = 'BSD',
-	packages = ['libtorrent'],
+	packages = packages,
+	ext_modules = ext
 )
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 771aaeb84..ec6a93c58 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -687,6 +687,8 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES(
   [tools/Makefile]
   [bindings/Makefile]
   [bindings/python/Makefile]
+  [bindings/python/link_flags]
+  [bindings/python/compile_flags]
   [libtorrent-rasterbar.pc]
   [libtorrent-rasterbar-cmake.pc]
 )