diff --git a/Modules/Setup.dist b/Modules/Setup.dist
index 61afe8c8b7b..f54b13b7fb4 100644
--- a/Modules/Setup.dist
+++ b/Modules/Setup.dist
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ new newmodule.c			# Tommy Burnette's 'new' module
 
 # ======================================================================
 
+# The Python symtable module depends on .h files that setup.py doesn't track
+_symtable symtablemodule.c
+
 # The SGI specific GL module:
 
 GLHACK=-Dclear=__GLclear
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 75cc44d88f5..b3b52f5e5c2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -214,7 +214,6 @@ class PyBuildExt(build_ext):
 
         exts.append( Extension('_hotshot', ['_hotshot.c']) )
         exts.append( Extension('_weakref', ['_weakref.c']) )
-        exts.append( Extension('_symtable', ['symtablemodule.c']) )
         exts.append( Extension('xreadlines', ['xreadlinesmodule.c']) )
 
         # array objects