diff --git a/ceph.spec.in b/ceph.spec.in
index 9f952412be491..b3def2ed75b5c 100644
--- a/ceph.spec.in
+++ b/ceph.spec.in
@@ -672,6 +672,7 @@ cmake .. \
     -DCMAKE_INSTALL_MANDIR=%{_mandir} \
     -DCMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR=%{_docdir}/ceph \
     -DWITH_MANPAGE=ON \
+    -DWITH_PYTHON3=ON \
     -DWITH_SYSTEMD=ON \
 %if 0%{?rhel} && ! 0%{?centos}
     -DWITH_SUBMAN=ON \
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index c3bdfbc79b2dd..bb705938de7c4 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export DESTDIR=$(CURDIR)/debian/tmp
 
 export DEB_HOST_ARCH      ?= $(shell dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_ARCH)
 
-extraopts += -DUSE_CRYPTOPP=OFF -DWITH_OCF=ON -DWITH_LTTNG=ON
+extraopts += -DUSE_CRYPTOPP=OFF -DWITH_OCF=ON -DWITH_LTTNG=ON -DWITH_PYTHON3=ON
 extraopts += -DWITH_CEPHFS_JAVA=ON
 # assumes that ceph is exmpt from multiarch support, so we override the libdir.
 extraopts += -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=/usr/lib
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 3eed3d40f4f3d..aea127bee72e2 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -200,8 +200,20 @@ endif()
 # Python stuff
 find_package(PythonInterp 2 REQUIRED)
 find_package(PythonLibs 2 REQUIRED)
-find_package(Python3Interp 3 REQUIRED)
-find_package(Python3Libs 3 REQUIRED)
+
+option(WITH_PYTHON3 "build python3 bindings" "CHECK")
+if(WITH_PYTHON3 MATCHES "check|CHECK")
+  find_package(Python3Interp 3 QUIET)
+  find_package(Python3Libs 3 QUIET)
+  if(PYTHON3INTERP_FOUND AND PYTHON3LIBS_FOUND)
+    set(WITH_PYTHON3 ON)
+  else()
+    set(WITH_PYTHON3 OFF)
+  endif()
+elseif(WITH_PYTHON3)
+  find_package(Python3Interp 3 REQUIRED)
+  find_package(Python3Libs 3 REQUIRED)
+endif()
 
 if(HAVE_XIO)
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -I${XIO_INCLUDE_DIR}")
diff --git a/src/pybind/CMakeLists.txt b/src/pybind/CMakeLists.txt
index 3d22acd9cfee8..14d037e6f16e1 100644
--- a/src/pybind/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/pybind/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@ include(Distutils)
 
 set(CYTHON_MODULE_DIR ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/cython_modules)
 
-foreach(python_version 3 2)  # Keep the default version last
+# Keep the default version last
+if(WITH_PYTHON3)
+  set(py_vers 3)
+endif()
+list(APPEND py_vers 2)
+
+foreach(python_version ${py_vers})
   if(${python_version} EQUAL 2)
     set(PYTHON_VERSION "")
   else(${python_version} EQUAL 2)