diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_msi.py b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_msi.py
index b3cfe9c..f6c21ae 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_msi.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_msi.py
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@
             target_version = self.target_version
             if not target_version:
                 assert self.skip_build, "Should have already checked this"
-                target_version = sys.version[0:3]
+                target_version = '%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2]
             plat_specifier = ".%s-%s" % (self.plat_name, target_version)
             build = self.get_finalized_command('build')
             build.build_lib = os.path.join(build.build_base,
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_wininst.py b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_wininst.py
index 0c0e2c1..d3e1d3a 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_wininst.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_wininst.py
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
             target_version = self.target_version
             if not target_version:
                 assert self.skip_build, "Should have already checked this"
-                target_version = sys.version[0:3]
+                target_version = '%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2]
             plat_specifier = ".%s-%s" % (self.plat_name, target_version)
             build = self.get_finalized_command('build')
             build.build_lib = os.path.join(build.build_base,
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/build.py b/Lib/distutils/command/build.py
index 337dd0b..c6f52e6 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/build.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/build.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
                             "--plat-name only supported on Windows (try "
                             "using './configure --help' on your platform)")
 
-        plat_specifier = ".%s-%s" % (self.plat_name, sys.version[0:3])
+        plat_specifier = ".%s-%d.%d" % (self.plat_name, *sys.version_info[:2])
 
         # Make it so Python 2.x and Python 2.x with --with-pydebug don't
         # share the same build directories. Doing so confuses the build
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@
                                            'temp' + plat_specifier)
         if self.build_scripts is None:
             self.build_scripts = os.path.join(self.build_base,
-                                              'scripts-' + sys.version[0:3])
+                                              'scripts-%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2])
 
         if self.executable is None:
             self.executable = os.path.normpath(sys.executable)
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/install.py b/Lib/distutils/command/install.py
index 67db007..9474e9c 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/install.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/install.py
@@ -290,8 +290,8 @@
                             'dist_version': self.distribution.get_version(),
                             'dist_fullname': self.distribution.get_fullname(),
                             'py_version': py_version,
-                            'py_version_short': py_version[0:3],
-                            'py_version_nodot': py_version[0] + py_version[2],
+                            'py_version_short': '%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2],
+                            'py_version_nodot': '%d%d' % sys.version_info[:2],
                             'sys_prefix': prefix,
                             'prefix': prefix,
                             'sys_exec_prefix': exec_prefix,
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/install_egg_info.py b/Lib/distutils/command/install_egg_info.py
index c2a7d64..0ddc736 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/install_egg_info.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/install_egg_info.py
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@
 
     def finalize_options(self):
         self.set_undefined_options('install_lib',('install_dir','install_dir'))
-        basename = "%s-%s-py%s.egg-info" % (
+        basename = "%s-%s-py%d.%d.egg-info" % (
             to_filename(safe_name(self.distribution.get_name())),
             to_filename(safe_version(self.distribution.get_version())),
-            sys.version[:3]
+            *sys.version_info[:2]
         )
         self.target = os.path.join(self.install_dir, basename)
         self.outputs = [self.target]
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py b/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
index 573724d..d203f8e 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/sysconfig.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
     leaving off the patchlevel.  Sample return values could be '1.5'
     or '2.2'.
     """
-    return sys.version[:3]
+    return '%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2]
 
 
 def get_python_inc(plat_specific=0, prefix=None):
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build.py
index 3391f36..b020a5b 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
         # build_platlib is 'build/lib.platform-x.x[-pydebug]'
         # examples:
         #   build/lib.macosx-10.3-i386-2.7
-        plat_spec = '.%s-%s' % (cmd.plat_name, sys.version[0:3])
+        plat_spec = '.%s-%d.%d' % (cmd.plat_name, *sys.version_info[:2])
         if hasattr(sys, 'gettotalrefcount'):
             self.assertTrue(cmd.build_platlib.endswith('-pydebug'))
             plat_spec += '-pydebug'
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@
         self.assertEqual(cmd.build_temp, wanted)
 
         # build_scripts is build/scripts-x.x
-        wanted = os.path.join(cmd.build_base, 'scripts-' +  sys.version[0:3])
+        wanted = os.path.join(cmd.build_base,
+                              'scripts-%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2])
         self.assertEqual(cmd.build_scripts, wanted)
 
         # executable is os.path.normpath(sys.executable)