diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b5c2aa2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import sys
+import os
+import tempfile
+import shutil
+from StringIO import StringIO
+
+from distutils.core import Extension, Distribution
+from distutils.command.build_ext import build_ext
+from distutils import sysconfig
+
+import unittest
+from test import test_support
+
+class BuildExtTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        # Create a simple test environment
+        # Note that we're making changes to sys.path
+        self.tmp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="pythontest_")
+        self.sys_path = sys.path[:]
+        sys.path.append(self.tmp_dir)
+
+        xx_c = os.path.join(sysconfig.project_base, 'Modules', 'xxmodule.c')
+        shutil.copy(xx_c, self.tmp_dir)
+
+    def test_build_ext(self):
+        xx_c = os.path.join(self.tmp_dir, 'xxmodule.c')
+        xx_ext = Extension('xx', [xx_c])
+        dist = Distribution({'name': 'xx', 'ext_modules': [xx_ext]})
+        dist.package_dir = self.tmp_dir
+        cmd = build_ext(dist)
+        cmd.build_lib = self.tmp_dir
+        cmd.build_temp = self.tmp_dir
+
+        old_stdout = sys.stdout
+        if not test_support.verbose:
+            # silence compiler output
+            sys.stdout = StringIO()
+        try:
+            cmd.ensure_finalized()
+            cmd.run()
+        finally:
+            sys.stdout = old_stdout
+
+        import xx
+
+        for attr in ('error', 'foo', 'new', 'roj'):
+            self.assert_(hasattr(xx, attr))
+
+        self.assertEquals(xx.foo(2, 5), 7)
+        self.assertEquals(xx.foo(13,15), 28)
+        self.assertEquals(xx.new().demo(), None)
+        doc = 'This is a template module just for instruction.'
+        self.assertEquals(xx.__doc__, doc)
+        self.assert_(isinstance(xx.Null(), xx.Null))
+        self.assert_(isinstance(xx.Str(), xx.Str))
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        # Get everything back to normal
+        test_support.unload('xx')
+        sys.path = self.sys_path
+        # XXX on Windows the test leaves a directory with xx.pyd in TEMP
+        shutil.rmtree(self.tmp_dir, False if os.name != "nt" else True)
+
+def test_suite():
+    if not sysconfig.python_build:
+        if test_support.verbose:
+            print 'test_build_ext: The test must be run in a python build dir'
+        return unittest.TestSuite()
+    else: return unittest.makeSuite(BuildExtTestCase)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    test_support.run_unittest(test_suite())