diff -urNp a/m4/ax_python_devel.m4 b/m4/ax_python_devel.m4
--- a/m4/ax_python_devel.m4	2021-08-02 13:15:04.122972905 +0200
+++ b/m4/ax_python_devel.m4	2021-08-02 13:16:17.407749535 +0200
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ variable to configure. See ``configure -
 	#
 	AC_MSG_CHECKING([for the distutils Python package])
 	ac_distutils_result=`$PYTHON -c "import distutils" 2>&1`
-	if test -z "$ac_distutils_result"; then
+	if test $? -eq 0; then
 		AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
 	else
 		AC_MSG_RESULT([no])