diff --git a/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py b/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
index cc663a83419..935372cd2b4 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
@@ -318,7 +318,34 @@ def _init_posix():
     # the scripts are in another directory.
     if python_build:
         g['LDSHARED'] = g['BLDSHARED']
+        
+    elif sys.version < '2.1':
+        # The following two branches are for 1.5.2 compatibility.
+        if sys.platform == 'aix4':          # what about AIX 3.x ?
+            # Linker script is in the config directory, not in Modules as the
+            # Makefile says.
+            python_lib = get_python_lib(standard_lib=1)
+            ld_so_aix = os.path.join(python_lib, 'config', 'ld_so_aix')
+            python_exp = os.path.join(python_lib, 'config', 'python.exp')
 
+            g['LDSHARED'] = "%s %s -bI:%s" % (ld_so_aix, g['CC'], python_exp)
+
+        elif sys.platform == 'beos':
+            # Linker script is in the config directory.  In the Makefile it is
+            # relative to the srcdir, which after installation no longer makes
+            # sense.
+            python_lib = get_python_lib(standard_lib=1)
+            linkerscript_name = os.path.basename(string.split(g['LDSHARED'])[0])
+            linkerscript = os.path.join(python_lib, 'config', linkerscript_name)
+            
+            # XXX this isn't the right place to do this: adding the Python
+            # library to the link, if needed, should be in the "build_ext"
+            # command.  (It's also needed for non-MS compilers on Windows, and
+            # it's taken care of for them by the 'build_ext.get_libraries()'
+            # method.)
+            g['LDSHARED'] = ("%s -L%s/lib -lpython%s" %
+                             (linkerscript, PREFIX, sys.version[0:3]))
+            
     global _config_vars
     _config_vars = g