diff --git a/distutils/compilers/C/base.py b/distutils/compilers/C/base.py
index 5efd2a39..93385e13 100644
--- a/distutils/compilers/C/base.py
+++ b/distutils/compilers/C/base.py
@@ -865,7 +865,7 @@ def library_dir_option(self, dir: str) -> str:
         """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-    def runtime_library_dir_option(self, dir: str) -> str:
+    def runtime_library_dir_option(self, dir: str) -> str | list[str]:
         """Return the compiler option to add 'dir' to the list of
         directories searched for runtime libraries.
         """
diff --git a/distutils/compilers/C/unix.py b/distutils/compilers/C/unix.py
index e8a53d45..77ff4edc 100644
--- a/distutils/compilers/C/unix.py
+++ b/distutils/compilers/C/unix.py
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ def _is_gcc(self):
         compiler = os.path.basename(shlex.split(cc_var)[0])
         return "gcc" in compiler or "g++" in compiler
 
-    def runtime_library_dir_option(self, dir: str) -> str | list[str]:  # type: ignore[override] # Fixed in pypa/distutils#339
+    def runtime_library_dir_option(self, dir: str) -> str | list[str]:
         # XXX Hackish, at the very least.  See Python bug #445902:
         # https://bugs.python.org/issue445902
         # Linkers on different platforms need different options to
diff --git a/newsfragments/4902.bugfix.rst b/newsfragments/4902.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6388d722
--- /dev/null
+++ b/newsfragments/4902.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Reverted distutils changes that broke the monkey patching of command classes.