diff --git a/meta/classes/setuptools.bbclass b/meta/classes/setuptools.bbclass
index ced9509..cf1c224 100644
--- a/meta/classes/setuptools.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/setuptools.bbclass
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ inherit distutils
 
 DEPENDS += "python-setuptools-native"
 
+DISTUTILS_INSTALL_OPTS ?= "--single-version-externally-managed "
 DISTUTILS_INSTALL_ARGS = "--root=${D} \
-    --single-version-externally-managed \
+    ${DISTUTILS_INSTALL_OPTS} \
     --prefix=${prefix} \
     --install-data=${datadir}"