diff --git a/src/python/grpcio_status/MANIFEST.in b/src/python/grpcio_status/MANIFEST.in
index eca719a9c20..09b8ea721e8 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio_status/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/src/python/grpcio_status/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 include grpc_version.py
 recursive-include grpc_status *.py
 global-exclude *.pyc
+include LICENSE
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio_status/setup.py b/src/python/grpcio_status/setup.py
index 0601498bc51..a59cdd0f0f5 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio_status/setup.py
+++ b/src/python/grpcio_status/setup.py
@@ -63,12 +63,18 @@ INSTALL_REQUIRES = (
     'googleapis-common-protos>=1.5.5',
 )
 
-SETUP_REQUIRES = ()
-COMMAND_CLASS = {
-    # wire up commands to no-op not to break the external dependencies
-    'preprocess': _NoOpCommand,
-    'build_package_protos': _NoOpCommand,
-}
+try:
+    import status_commands as _status_commands
+    # we are in the build environment, otherwise the above import fails
+    COMMAND_CLASS = {
+        # Run preprocess from the repository *before* doing any packaging!
+        'preprocess': _status_commands.Preprocess,
+    }
+except ImportError:
+    COMMAND_CLASS = {
+        # wire up commands to no-op not to break the external dependencies
+        'preprocess': _NoOpCommand,
+    }
 
 setuptools.setup(
     name='grpcio-status',
@@ -82,5 +88,4 @@ setuptools.setup(
     package_dir=PACKAGE_DIRECTORIES,
     packages=setuptools.find_packages('.'),
     install_requires=INSTALL_REQUIRES,
-    setup_requires=SETUP_REQUIRES,
     cmdclass=COMMAND_CLASS)
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio_status/status_commands.py b/src/python/grpcio_status/status_commands.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..78cd497f622
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/python/grpcio_status/status_commands.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Copyright 2018 The gRPC Authors
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+"""Provides distutils command classes for the GRPC Python setup process."""
+
+import os
+import shutil
+
+import setuptools
+
+ROOT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+LICENSE = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, '../../../LICENSE')
+
+
+class Preprocess(setuptools.Command):
+    """Command to copy LICENSE from root directory."""
+
+    description = ''
+    user_options = []
+
+    def initialize_options(self):
+        pass
+
+    def finalize_options(self):
+        pass
+
+    def run(self):
+        if os.path.isfile(LICENSE):
+            shutil.copyfile(LICENSE, os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'LICENSE'))
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.sh b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.sh
index 18eb70c8574..e451ced338f 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.sh
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ then
 
   # Build grpcio_status source distribution
   ${SETARCH_CMD} "${PYTHON}" src/python/grpcio_status/setup.py \
-      preprocess build_package_protos sdist
+      preprocess sdist
   cp -r src/python/grpcio_status/dist/* "$ARTIFACT_DIR"
 fi