Issue #21923: Prevent AttributeError in distutils.sysconfig.customize_compiler
due to possible uninitialized _config_vars.  Original patch by Alex Gaynor.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 4384562..97bea23 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@
 - Issue #19870: BaseCookie now parses 'secure' and 'httponly' flags.
   Backport of issue #16611.
 
+- Issue #21923: Prevent AttributeError in distutils.sysconfig.customize_compiler
+  due to possible uninitialized _config_vars.
+
 
 What's New in Python 2.7.8?
 ===========================