diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c7eb81264f72bd1a1b3bf9a895ddc741cf6c1ca1..69ea451f58c2d62e117fc961982650560ca326db 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -156,7 +156,9 @@ def main():
     with open("cffi_build.py.in", "rt") as f:
         build_script_template = f.read()
 
-    format_args = dict((k, repr(v)) for k, v in conf.items())
+    format_args = {}
+    for k, v in conf.items():
+        format_args[k] = repr(v)
 
     build_script = build_script_template.format(**format_args)