diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index c3575fb2a5..5091de0595 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -845,8 +845,6 @@ if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OR PKG_PYTHON)
     find_package(PythonInterp) # Deprecated since version 3.12
     if(PYTHONINTERP_FOUND)
       set(Python_EXECUTABLE ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE})
-      set(Python_VERSION_MAJOR ${PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR})
-      set(Python_VERSION_MINOR ${PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR})
     endif()
   else()
     # backward compatibility
@@ -860,7 +858,11 @@ if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OR PKG_PYTHON)
     file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/src)
     file(COPY ${LAMMPS_SOURCE_DIR}/version.h  DESTINATION ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/src)
     file(COPY ${LAMMPS_PYTHON_DIR}/README ${LAMMPS_PYTHON_DIR}/pyproject.toml ${LAMMPS_PYTHON_DIR}/setup.py ${LAMMPS_PYTHON_DIR}/lammps  DESTINATION ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/lib)
-    install(CODE "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python_EXECUTABLE} -m pip install ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/lib --target=${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib/python${Python_VERSION_MAJOR}.${Python_VERSION_MINOR}/site-packages)")
+    if(ENV{DISTDIR})
+      install(CODE "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python_EXECUTABLE} -m pip install ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/lib --prefix=${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX} --root=\$ENV{DESTDIR})")
+    else()
+      install(CODE "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python_EXECUTABLE} -m pip install ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/python/lib --prefix=${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX})")
+    endif()
   endif()
 endif()