diff --git a/miniupnpc/Makefile b/miniupnpc/Makefile
index d1ad870..178fbf5 100644
--- a/miniupnpc/Makefile
+++ b/miniupnpc/Makefile
@@ -173,18 +173,18 @@ check:	validateminixml validateminiwget validateupnpreplyparse \
 everything:	all $(EXECUTABLES_ADDTESTS)
 
 pythonmodule:	$(LIBRARY) miniupnpcmodule.c setup.py
-	python setup.py build
+	MAKE=$(MAKE) python setup.py build
 	touch $@
 
 installpythonmodule:	pythonmodule
-	python setup.py install
+	MAKE=$(MAKE) python setup.py install
 
 pythonmodule3:	$(LIBRARY) miniupnpcmodule.c setup.py
-	python3 setup.py build
+	MAKE=$(MAKE) python3 setup.py build
 	touch $@
 
 installpythonmodule3:	pythonmodule3
-	python3 setup.py install
+	MAKE=$(MAKE) python3 setup.py install
 
 validateminixml:	minixmlvalid
 	@echo "minixml validation test"
diff --git a/miniupnpc/setup.py b/miniupnpc/setup.py
index f100a76..24a676d 100755
--- a/miniupnpc/setup.py
+++ b/miniupnpc/setup.py
@@ -1,20 +1,23 @@
 #! /usr/bin/python
 # vim: tabstop=8 shiftwidth=8 expandtab
 # $Id: setup.py,v 1.9 2012/05/23 08:50:10 nanard Exp $
-# the MiniUPnP Project (c) 2007-2014 Thomas Bernard
+# the MiniUPnP Project (c) 2007-2017 Thomas Bernard
 # http://miniupnp.tuxfamily.org/ or http://miniupnp.free.fr/
 #
 # python script to build the miniupnpc module under unix
+#
+# Uses MAKE environment variable (defaulting to 'make')
 
 from setuptools import setup, Extension
 from setuptools.command import build_ext
 import subprocess
+import os
 
 EXT = ['libminiupnpc.a']
 
 class make_then_build_ext(build_ext.build_ext):
       def run(self):
-            subprocess.check_call(['make'] + EXT)
+            subprocess.check_call([os.environ.get('MAKE', 'make')] + EXT)
             build_ext.build_ext.run(self)
 
 setup(name="miniupnpc",