diff --git a/libguestfs.spec b/libguestfs.spec
index 3ca7091..09bd2f4 100644
--- a/libguestfs.spec
+++ b/libguestfs.spec
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ fi
 %configure \
 	--help || :
 
-if ! pkg-config python
+if python --version && ! pkg-config python
 then
 	export PYTHON_LIBS="-lpython`python -c 'import distutils.sysconfig; print (distutils.sysconfig.get_python_version ());'`"
 	export PYTHON_CFLAGS="-I`python -c 'import distutils.sysconfig; print (distutils.sysconfig.get_python_inc ());'`"