diff --git a/python/MANIFEST.in b/python/MANIFEST.in
index 3b8c99ef9cc41..40f1fb2f1ee7e 100644
--- a/python/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/python/MANIFEST.in
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
 global-exclude *.py[cod] __pycache__ .DS_Store
 recursive-include deps/jars *.jar
 graft deps/bin
-graft deps/data
-graft deps/licenses
+recursive-include deps/data *.data *.txt
+recursive-include deps/licenses *.txt
 recursive-include deps/examples *.py
 recursive-include lib *.zip
 include README.md
diff --git a/python/setup.py b/python/setup.py
index e1bdb952698e5..317279a97e078 100644
--- a/python/setup.py
+++ b/python/setup.py
@@ -77,8 +77,6 @@
 LICENSES_PATH = os.path.join(SPARK_HOME, "licenses")
 LICENSES_TARGET = os.path.join(TEMP_PATH, "licenses")
 
-data_files = glob.glob(os.path.join(LICENSES_PATH, "*"))
-
 # Check and see if we are under the spark path in which case we need to build the symlink farm.
 # This is important because we only want to build the symlink farm while under Spark otherwise we
 # want to use the symlink farm. And if the symlink farm exists under while under Spark (e.g. a
@@ -189,7 +187,6 @@ def _supports_symlinks():
             'pyspark.data': ['*.txt', '*.data'],
             'pyspark.licenses': ['*.txt'],
             'pyspark.examples.src.main.python': ['*.py', '*/*.py']},
-        data_files=[('', data_files)],
         scripts=scripts,
         license='http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0',
         install_requires=['py4j==0.10.4'],