Index: Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py  (revision 50594)
+++ Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py  (working copy)
@@ -146,6 +146,6 @@
     varies across Unices and is stored in Python's Makefile.
     """
     if compiler.compiler_type == "unix":
-        (cc, cxx, opt, cflags, ccshared, ldshared, so_ext) = \
+        (cc, cxx, opt, cflags, ccshared, ldshared, so_ext, ar) = \
             get_config_vars('CC', 'CXX', 'OPT', 'CFLAGS',
-                            'CCSHARED', 'LDSHARED', 'SO')
+                            'CCSHARED', 'LDSHARED', 'SO', 'AR')

         if os.environ.has_key('CC'):
             cc = os.environ['CC']
@@ -160,6 +160,8 @@
             cpp = os.environ['CPP']
         else:
             cpp = cc + " -E"           # not always
+        if os.environ.has_key('AR'):
+            ar = os.environ['AR']
         if os.environ.has_key('LDFLAGS'):
             ldshared = ldshared + ' ' + os.environ['LDFLAGS']
         if os.environ.has_key('CFLAGS'):
@@ -177,4 +179,5 @@
             compiler_so=cc_cmd + ' ' + ccshared,
             compiler_cxx=cxx,
             linker_so=ldshared,
-            linker_exe=cc)
+            linker_exe=cc,
+            archiver=ar)

         compiler.shared_lib_extension = so_ext