diff --git a/python-pysaml2.changes b/python-pysaml2.changes
index bae9767..abd965b 100644
--- a/python-pysaml2.changes
+++ b/python-pysaml2.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Thu Jul 16 15:40:39 UTC 2015 - seife+obs@b1-systems.com
+
+- fix build on non-SUSE distributions whose rpm does not know
+  "Recommends"
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Wed Jun 10 08:48:46 UTC 2015 - dmueller@suse.com
 
diff --git a/python-pysaml2.spec b/python-pysaml2.spec
index ecd7b39..8f9d138 100644
--- a/python-pysaml2.spec
+++ b/python-pysaml2.spec
@@ -42,9 +42,11 @@ BuildRequires:  python-python-memcached
 BuildRequires:  python-repoze.who
 BuildRequires:  python-requests >= 1.0.0
 %endif
+%if 0%{?suse_release}
 Recommends:     python-repoze.who
 # NOTE(saschpe): xmlsec has a lot of deps and some issues, thus not require it:
 Recommends:     python-xmlsec
+%endif
 Requires:       python-M2Crypto
 Requires:       python-Paste
 Requires:       python-decorator