diff --git a/macros/ac_python_devel.m4 b/macros/ac_python_devel.m4
index 518345093..e8f40b272 100644
--- a/macros/ac_python_devel.m4
+++ b/macros/ac_python_devel.m4
@@ -260,10 +260,12 @@ EOD`
 	# libraries which must be linked in when embedding
 	#
 	AC_MSG_CHECKING(python extra libraries)
+	# Do not reference LOCALMODLIBS, else it will add libraries to our
+	# link line (e.g -lssl) which are not necessarily installed.
 	if test -z "$PYTHON_EXTRA_LIBS"; then
 	   PYTHON_EXTRA_LIBS=`$PYTHON -c "import distutils.sysconfig; \
                 conf = distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var; \
-                print (conf('LOCALMODLIBS') + ' ' + conf('LIBS'))"`
+                conf('LIBS'))"`
 	fi
 	AC_MSG_RESULT([$PYTHON_EXTRA_LIBS])
 	AC_SUBST(PYTHON_EXTRA_LIBS)