diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 347f44488..59ccf6606 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -317,6 +317,9 @@ New in spot 2.11.6.dev  (not yet released)
     by "a[->]".  The latter should only replace "(!a)[*];a".
     (Issue #559.)
 
+  - The configure script failed to detect the include path for Python 3.12.
+    (Issue #577.)
+
 New in spot 2.11.6  (2023-08-01)
 
   Bug fixes:
diff --git a/m4/pypath.m4 b/m4/pypath.m4
index efdf57355..f750e172c 100644
--- a/m4/pypath.m4
+++ b/m4/pypath.m4
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([adl_CHECK_PYTHON],
   esac
   AC_CACHE_CHECK([for $am_display_PYTHON includes directory],
     [adl_cv_python_inc],
-    [adl_cv_python_inc=`$PYTHON -c "import sys; from distutils import sysconfig;]
-[sys.stdout.write(sysconfig.get_python_inc())" 2>/dev/null`])
+    [adl_cv_python_inc=`$PYTHON -c "import sys, sysconfig;]
+[sys.stdout.write(sysconfig.get_path('include'))" 2>/dev/null`])
   AC_CACHE_CHECK([for $am_display_PYTHON extension suffix],
     [adl_cv_python_ext],
     [adl_cv_python_ext=`$PYTHON -c "import importlib.machinery as i; print(i.EXTENSION_SUFFIXES[[0]])"`])