diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/setuptools3_legacy.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/setuptools3_legacy.bbclass
index 166808a695..8197f443c9 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/setuptools3_legacy.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/setuptools3_legacy.bbclass
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 inherit setuptools3-base
 
 B = "${WORKDIR}/build"
+do_configure[cleandirs] = "${B}"
 
 SETUPTOOLS_BUILD_ARGS ?= ""
 SETUPTOOLS_INSTALL_ARGS ?= "--root=${D} \