diff --git a/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py b/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
index 4a4fadd..dcc7231 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 
 import os
 import re
-import string
 import sys
 
 from distutils.errors import DistutilsPlatformError
@@ -435,7 +434,7 @@
             # relative to the srcdir, which after installation no longer makes
             # sense.
             python_lib = get_python_lib(standard_lib=1)
-            linkerscript_path = string.split(g['LDSHARED'])[0]
+            linkerscript_path = g['LDSHARED'].split()[0]
             linkerscript_name = os.path.basename(linkerscript_path)
             linkerscript = os.path.join(python_lib, 'config',
                                         linkerscript_name)