Patch taken from https://bugs.python.org/issue22724 and augmented with
following Nix patch
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/2.7/cross-compile.patch
to fix the whole cross-compilation circus.

---
 Makefile.pre.in | 14 +++++++-------
 configure       |  5 ++++-
 setup.py        |  9 ++++++---
 3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Makefile.pre.in b/Makefile.pre.in
index 2a14f3323b..6239fc32fc 100644
--- a/Makefile.pre.in
+++ b/Makefile.pre.in
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ $(BUILDPYTHON):	Modules/python.o $(LIBRARY) $(LDLIBRARY)
 			$(BLDLIBRARY) $(LIBS) $(MODLIBS) $(SYSLIBS) $(LDLAST)
 
 platform: $(BUILDPYTHON) pybuilddir.txt
-	$(RUNSHARED) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -c 'import sys ; from sysconfig import get_platform ; print get_platform()+"-"+sys.version[0:3]' >platform
+	$(RUNSHARED) $(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -c 'import sys ; from sysconfig import get_platform ; print get_platform()+"-"+sys.version[0:3]' >platform
 
 # Create build directory and generate the sysconfig build-time data there.
 # pybuilddir.txt contains the name of the build dir and is used for
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ platform: $(BUILDPYTHON) pybuilddir.txt
 # or removed in case of failure.
 pybuilddir.txt: $(BUILDPYTHON)
 	@echo "none" > ./pybuilddir.txt
-	$(RUNSHARED) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -S -m sysconfig --generate-posix-vars ;\
+	$(RUNSHARED) $(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -S -m sysconfig --generate-posix-vars ;\
 	if test $$? -ne 0 ; then \
 		echo "generate-posix-vars failed" ; \
 		rm -f ./pybuilddir.txt ; \
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ sharedmods: $(BUILDPYTHON) pybuilddir.txt Modules/_math.o
 	esac; \
 	$(RUNSHARED) CC='$(CC)' LDSHARED='$(BLDSHARED)' OPT='$(OPT)' \
 		_TCLTK_INCLUDES='$(TCLTK_INCLUDES)' _TCLTK_LIBS='$(TCLTK_LIBS)' \
-		$(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(srcdir)/setup.py $$quiet build
+		$(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(srcdir)/setup.py $$quiet build
 
 # Build static library
 # avoid long command lines, same as LIBRARY_OBJS
@@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ install:	@FRAMEWORKINSTALLFIRST@ commoninstall bininstall maninstall @FRAMEWORKI
 			upgrade) ensurepip="--upgrade" ;; \
 			install|*) ensurepip="" ;; \
 		esac; \
-		$(RUNSHARED) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -m ensurepip \
+		$(RUNSHARED) $(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -m ensurepip \
 			$$ensurepip --root=$(DESTDIR)/ ; \
 	fi
 
@@ -939,7 +939,7 @@ altinstall:	commoninstall
 			upgrade) ensurepip="--altinstall --upgrade --no-default-pip" ;; \
 			install|*) ensurepip="--altinstall --no-default-pip" ;; \
 		esac; \
-		$(RUNSHARED) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -m ensurepip \
+		$(RUNSHARED) $(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) -m ensurepip \
 			$$ensurepip --root=$(DESTDIR)/ ; \
 	fi
 
@@ -1270,7 +1270,7 @@ libainstall:	@DEF_MAKE_RULE@ python-config
 # Install the dynamically loadable modules
 # This goes into $(exec_prefix)
 sharedinstall: sharedmods
-	$(RUNSHARED) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(srcdir)/setup.py install \
+	$(RUNSHARED) $(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(srcdir)/setup.py install \
 	   	--prefix=$(prefix) \
 		--install-scripts=$(BINDIR) \
 		--install-platlib=$(DESTSHARED) \
@@ -1344,7 +1344,7 @@ frameworkinstallextras:
 # This installs a few of the useful scripts in Tools/scripts
 scriptsinstall:
 	SRCDIR=$(srcdir) $(RUNSHARED) \
-	$(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(srcdir)/Tools/scripts/setup.py install \
+	$(PY_BUILD_ENVIRON) $(PYTHON_FOR_BUILD) $(srcdir)/Tools/scripts/setup.py install \
 	--prefix=$(prefix) \
 	--install-scripts=$(BINDIR) \
 	--root=$(DESTDIR)/
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 67300fe2b6..6050f588c5 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -741,6 +741,7 @@ CONFIG_ARGS
 SOVERSION
 VERSION
 PYTHON_FOR_BUILD
+PY_BUILD_ENVIRON
 PYTHON_FOR_REGEN
 host_os
 host_vendor
@@ -2964,7 +2965,8 @@ $as_echo_n "checking for python interpreter for cross build... " >&6; }
 	fi
         { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $interp" >&5
 $as_echo "$interp" >&6; }
-	PYTHON_FOR_BUILD='_PYTHON_PROJECT_BASE=$(abs_builddir) _PYTHON_HOST_PLATFORM=$(_PYTHON_HOST_PLATFORM) PYTHONPATH=$(shell test -f pybuilddir.txt && echo $(abs_builddir)/`cat pybuilddir.txt`:)$(srcdir)/Lib:$(srcdir)/Lib/$(PLATDIR) '$interp
+	PY_BUILD_ENVIRON='_PYTHON_PROJECT_BASE=$(abs_builddir) _PYTHON_HOST_PLATFORM=$(_PYTHON_HOST_PLATFORM) PYTHONPATH=$(shell test -f pybuilddir.txt && echo $(abs_builddir)/`cat pybuilddir.txt`:)$(srcdir)/Lib:$(srcdir)/Lib/$(PLATDIR)'
+	PYTHON_FOR_BUILD=$interp
     fi
 elif test "$cross_compiling" = maybe; then
     as_fn_error $? "Cross compiling required --host=HOST-TUPLE and --build=ARCH" "$LINENO" 5
@@ -2974,6 +2976,7 @@ fi
 
 
 
+
 if test "$prefix" != "/"; then
     prefix=`echo "$prefix" | sed -e 's/\/$//g'`
 fi
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index cb47a2339c..472e7e2b26 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -497,8 +497,6 @@ class PyBuildExt(build_ext):
         if not cross_compiling:
             add_dir_to_list(self.compiler.library_dirs, '/usr/local/lib')
             add_dir_to_list(self.compiler.include_dirs, '/usr/local/include')
-        if cross_compiling:
-            self.add_gcc_paths()
         self.add_multiarch_paths()
 
         # Add paths specified in the environment variables LDFLAGS and
@@ -556,7 +554,10 @@ class PyBuildExt(build_ext):
         # be assumed that no additional -I,-L directives are needed.
         inc_dirs = self.compiler.include_dirs[:]
         lib_dirs = self.compiler.library_dirs[:]
-        if not cross_compiling:
+        if cross_compiling:
+            inc_dirs = []
+            lib_dirs = []
+        else:
             for d in (
                 '/usr/include',
                 ):
@@ -621,6 +622,8 @@ class PyBuildExt(build_ext):
         # Some modules that are normally always on:
         #exts.append( Extension('_weakref', ['_weakref.c']) )
 
+        self.compiler.library_dirs = lib_dirs + [ '.' ]
+
         # array objects
         exts.append( Extension('array', ['arraymodule.c']) )
 
-- 
2.17.1