diff --git a/src/auto/configure b/src/auto/configure
index 5702a21..7ecc40c 100755
--- a/src/auto/configure
+++ b/src/auto/configure
@@ -6755,7 +6755,10 @@
 
        vi_cv_path_python3_conf=
        config_dir="config-${vi_cv_var_python3_version}${vi_cv_var_python3_abiflags}"
-       d=`${vi_cv_path_python3} -c "import distutils.sysconfig; print(distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBPL'))"`
+       d=`${vi_cv_path_python3} -c "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBPL'))" 2> /dev/null`
+       if test "x$d" = "x"; then
+         d=`${vi_cv_path_python3} -c "import distutils.sysconfig; print(distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBPL'))"`
+       fi
        if test -d "$d" && test -f "$d/config.c"; then
          vi_cv_path_python3_conf="$d"
        else
diff --git a/src/configure.ac b/src/configure.ac
index 2db0449..9810ea1 100644
--- a/src/configure.ac
+++ b/src/configure.ac
@@ -1487,7 +1487,10 @@
       [
        vi_cv_path_python3_conf=
        config_dir="config-${vi_cv_var_python3_version}${vi_cv_var_python3_abiflags}"
-       d=`${vi_cv_path_python3} -c "import distutils.sysconfig; print(distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBPL'))"`
+       d=`${vi_cv_path_python3} -c "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBPL'))" 2> /dev/null`
+       if test "x$d" = "x"; then
+         d=`${vi_cv_path_python3} -c "import distutils.sysconfig; print(distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('LIBPL'))"`
+       fi
        if test -d "$d" && test -f "$d/config.c"; then
          vi_cv_path_python3_conf="$d"
        else
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 055179c..6286581 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -751,6 +751,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    2970,
+/**/
     2969,
 /**/
     2968,