diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 16d66f61..7f2db6bf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ setupOpts = dict(
 from distutils.core import setup
 import distutils.dir_util
 import os, sys, re
+try:
+    # just avoids warning about install_requires
+    import setuptools
+except ImportError:
+    pass
 
 path = os.path.split(__file__)[0]
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(path, 'tools'))
diff --git a/tools/setupHelpers.py b/tools/setupHelpers.py
index 9e6be1d5..ea6aba3f 100644
--- a/tools/setupHelpers.py
+++ b/tools/setupHelpers.py
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 import os, sys, re
-from subprocess import check_output
+try:
+    from subprocess import check_output
+except ImportError:
+    import subprocess as sp
+    def check_output(*args, **kwds):
+        kwds['stdout'] = sp.PIPE
+        proc = sp.Popen(*args, **kwds)
+        output = proc.stdout.read()
+        proc.wait()
+        if proc.returncode != 0:
+            raise Exception("Process had nonzero return value", proc.returncode)
+        return output
 
 def listAllPackages(pkgroot):
     path = os.getcwd()