diff -r c5508c706293 Doc/distutils/setupscript.rst
--- a/Doc/distutils/setupscript.rst	Fri Jan 18 13:42:56 2013 +0100
+++ b/Doc/distutils/setupscript.rst	Fri Jan 18 13:10:57 2013 -0500
@@ -696,7 +696,10 @@
 and see that it's a permission problem.
 
 On the other hand, this doesn't help the developer to find the cause of the
-failure. For this purpose, the DISTUTILS_DEBUG environment variable can be set
-to anything except an empty string, and distutils will now print detailed
-information what it is doing, and prints the full traceback in case an exception
-occurs.
+failure. For this purpose, the :attr:`DEBUG` attribute of the 
+:mod:`distutils.debug` module can be used to control distutils specific deugging
+information.  If not set directly, :attr:`DEBUG` is set to ``True`` 
+if the DISTUTILS_DEBUG environment variable is set to anything except an empty 
+string. With :attr:`DEBUG` set to ``True``, distutils prints detailed 
+information about what it is doing, and prints the full traceback in case an 
+exception occurs.
diff -r c5508c706293 Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py	Fri Jan 18 13:42:56 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py	Fri Jan 18 13:10:57 2013 -0500
@@ -895,8 +895,8 @@
         log.debug(msg)
 
     def debug_print(self, msg):
-        from distutils.debug import DEBUG
-        if DEBUG:
+        import distutils.debug
+        if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
             print(msg)
 
     def warn(self, msg):
diff -r c5508c706293 Lib/distutils/core.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/core.py	Fri Jan 18 13:42:56 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/distutils/core.py	Fri Jan 18 13:10:57 2013 -0500
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-from distutils.debug import DEBUG
+import distutils.debug
 from distutils.errors import *
 from distutils.util import grok_environment_error
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@
     # the setup script, but be overridden by the command line.
     dist.parse_config_files()
 
-    if DEBUG:
+    if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
         print("options (after parsing config files):")
         dist.dump_option_dicts()
 
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@
     except DistutilsArgError as msg:
         raise SystemExit(gen_usage(dist.script_name) + "\nerror: %s" % msg)
 
-    if DEBUG:
+    if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
         print("options (after parsing command line):")
         dist.dump_option_dicts()
 
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
         except OSError as exc:
             error = grok_environment_error(exc)
 
-            if DEBUG:
+            if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
                 sys.stderr.write(error + "\n")
                 raise
             else:
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@
 
         except (DistutilsError,
                 CCompilerError) as msg:
-            if DEBUG:
+            if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
                 raise
             else:
                 raise SystemExit("error: " + str(msg))
diff -r c5508c706293 Lib/distutils/dist.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/dist.py	Fri Jan 18 13:42:56 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/distutils/dist.py	Fri Jan 18 13:10:57 2013 -0500
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from distutils.fancy_getopt import FancyGetopt, translate_longopt
 from distutils.util import check_environ, strtobool, rfc822_escape
 from distutils import log
-from distutils.debug import DEBUG
+import distutils.debug
 
 # Regex to define acceptable Distutils command names.  This is not *quite*
 # the same as a Python NAME -- I don't allow leading underscores.  The fact
@@ -346,12 +346,12 @@
         if filenames is None:
             filenames = self.find_config_files()
 
-        if DEBUG:
+        if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
             self.announce("Distribution.parse_config_files():")
 
         parser = ConfigParser()
         for filename in filenames:
-            if DEBUG:
+            if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
                 self.announce("  reading %s" % filename)
             parser.read(filename)
             for section in parser.sections():
@@ -801,7 +801,7 @@
         """
         cmd_obj = self.command_obj.get(command)
         if not cmd_obj and create:
-            if DEBUG:
+            if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
                 self.announce("Distribution.get_command_obj(): " \
                               "creating '%s' command object" % command)
 
@@ -833,10 +833,10 @@
         if option_dict is None:
             option_dict = self.get_option_dict(command_name)
 
-        if DEBUG:
+        if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
             self.announce("  setting options for '%s' command:" % command_name)
         for (option, (source, value)) in option_dict.items():
-            if DEBUG:
+            if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
                 self.announce("    %s = %s (from %s)" % (option, value,
                                                          source))
             try:
diff -r c5508c706293 Lib/distutils/filelist.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/filelist.py	Fri Jan 18 13:42:56 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/distutils/filelist.py	Fri Jan 18 13:10:57 2013 -0500
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@
         """Print 'msg' to stdout if the global DEBUG (taken from the
         DISTUTILS_DEBUG environment variable) flag is true.
         """
-        from distutils.debug import DEBUG
-        if DEBUG:
+        import distutils.debug
+        if distutils.debug.DEBUG:
             print(msg)
 
     # -- List-like methods ---------------------------------------------
diff -r c5508c706293 Lib/distutils/tests/test_core.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_core.py	Fri Jan 18 13:42:56 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_core.py	Fri Jan 18 13:10:57 2013 -0500
@@ -91,15 +91,15 @@
         stdout.seek(0)
         self.assertEqual(stdout.read(), 'bar\n')
 
-        distutils.core.DEBUG = True
+        distutils.debug.DEBUG = True
         try:
             with captured_stdout() as stdout:
                 distutils.core.setup(name='bar')
         finally:
-            distutils.core.DEBUG = False
+            distutils.debug.DEBUG = False
         stdout.seek(0)
         wanted = "options (after parsing config files):\n"
-        self.assertEqual(stdout.readlines()[0], wanted)
+        self.assertIn(wanted, stdout.readlines())
 
 def test_suite():
     return unittest.makeSuite(CoreTestCase)