diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 45cb6c40..b429eae0 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ recursive-include docker *
 recursive-include opencv *
 recursive-include opencv_contrib *
 recursive-include patches *
+recursive-include scripts *.py
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1b1f59c7..87632fe9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ def _classify_installed_files_override(
         print("Copying files from CMake output")
 
         # add lines from the old __init__.py file to the config file
-        with open('scripts/__init__.py', 'r') as custom_init:
+        with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), 'scripts', '__init__.py'), 'r') as custom_init:
             custom_init_data = custom_init.read()
         with open('%spython/cv2/config-%s.%s.py'
         % (cmake_install_dir, sys.version_info[0], sys.version_info[1]), 'w') as opencv_init_config: