diff --git a/utils/lib.sh b/utils/lib.sh
index 50f15a690..dfa1e9cda 100755
--- a/utils/lib.sh
+++ b/utils/lib.sh
@@ -1077,6 +1077,11 @@ in_container() {
     [[ -f /.lxcenv ]]
 }
 
+LXC_ENV_FOLDER=
+if in_container; then
+    LXC_ENV_FOLDER="lxc/$(hostname)/"
+fi
+
 lxc_init_container() {
 
     # Create a /.lxcenv file in the root folder.  Call this once after container
diff --git a/utils/makefile.lxc b/utils/makefile.lxc
index 8b79994ee..fd999e40d 100644
--- a/utils/makefile.lxc
+++ b/utils/makefile.lxc
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 #   sudo make ./utils/makefile.lxc lxc-activate
 #   sudo make ./utils/makefile.lxc lxc-deactivate
 
-LXC_ENV_FOLDER=/lxc-$(shell hostname)
+LXC_ENV_FOLDER=lxc/$(shell hostname)/
 
 lxc-help::
 	@echo  'LXC: running in container LXC_ENV_FOLDER=$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)'
diff --git a/utils/makefile.python b/utils/makefile.python
index bd7d0d14e..1660468f5 100644
--- a/utils/makefile.python
+++ b/utils/makefile.python
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ export PYTHONPATH := $(SITE_PYTHON):$$PYTHONPATH
 export PY_ENV PYDIST PYBUILD
 
 # folder where the python distribution takes place
-PYDIST   = ./dist$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
+PYDIST   = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)dist
 # folder where the python intermediate build files take place
-PYBUILD  = ./build$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
+PYBUILD  = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)build
 # python version to use
 PY       ?=3
 PYTHON   ?= python$(PY)
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ TEST_FOLDER  ?= ./tests
 TEST         ?= .
 
 VTENV_OPTS   ?=
-PY_ENV       = ./local$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)/py$(PY)
+PY_ENV       = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)local/py$(PY)
 PY_ENV_BIN   = $(PY_ENV)/bin
 PY_ENV_ACT   = . $(PY_ENV_BIN)/activate
 
diff --git a/utils/makefile.sphinx b/utils/makefile.sphinx
index 8a1f6b76b..fd4c3a6f1 100644
--- a/utils/makefile.sphinx
+++ b/utils/makefile.sphinx
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ SPHINXOPTS  ?=
 SPHINXBUILD ?= $(PY_ENV_BIN)/sphinx-build
 SPHINX_CONF ?= conf.py
 
-DOCS_FOLDER = docs$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
-DOCS_BUILD  = build/docs$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
-DOCS_DIST   = dist/docs$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
+DOCS_FOLDER = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)docs
+DOCS_BUILD  = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)build/docs
+DOCS_DIST   = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)dist/docs
 GH_PAGES    ?= gh-pages
 
-BOOKS_FOLDER = docs$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
-BOOKS_DIST   = dist/books$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)
+BOOKS_FOLDER = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)docs
+BOOKS_DIST   = ./$(LXC_ENV_FOLDER)dist/books
 
 ifeq ($(KBUILD_VERBOSE),1)
   SPHINX_VERBOSE = "-v"