[Distutils] --build-base and install

I'm trying to build and install pysqlite-1.1.6 using --build-base, because I want the files created during the build to be placed in a specific directory outside the source directory. --build-base works just fine with the 'build' command, but not at all with the 'install' command. How is 'install' supposed to find the files that 'build' placed elsewhere? Is the lack of --build-base support a problem with pysqlite's setup.py script or a more fundamental problem with distutils? Or am I just being dense? FTR: Python 2.4.1 Thanks, -Barry