diff --git a/dev-java/java-config/java-config-2.2.0-r4.ebuild b/dev-java/java-config/java-config-2.2.0-r4.ebuild
index 8f0cddb82b4f0..2913a8f7f6820 100644
--- a/dev-java/java-config/java-config-2.2.0-r4.ebuild
+++ b/dev-java/java-config/java-config-2.2.0-r4.ebuild
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ EAPI=6
 
 # jython depends on java-config, so don't add it or things will break
 PYTHON_COMPAT=( python{3_6,3_7} )
+DISTUTILS_USE_SETUPTOOLS=no
 
 inherit distutils-r1