diff --git a/ceph-iscsi.spec b/ceph-iscsi.spec
index 4094ea5f..dee9bc42 100644
--- a/ceph-iscsi.spec
+++ b/ceph-iscsi.spec
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ Requires:       python-rados >= 10.2.2
 Requires:       python-rbd >= 10.2.2
 Requires:       python-netifaces >= 0.10.4
 Requires:       python-rtslib >= 2.1.fb68
-Requires:       rpm-python >= 4.11
 Requires:       python-cryptography
 Requires:       python-flask >= 0.10.1
 Requires:       python-configshell >= 1.1.fb25
@@ -63,7 +62,6 @@ Requires:       python3-netifaces >= 0.10.4
 Requires:       python3-rtslib >= 2.1.fb68
 Requires:       python3-cryptography
 Requires:       python3-pyOpenSSL
-Requires:       python3-rpm >= 4.11
 %if 0%{?suse_version}
 BuildRequires:  python-rpm-macros
 BuildRequires:  fdupes
diff --git a/rbd-target-api.py b/rbd-target-api.py
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 8f26d6d4..ad087b2e
--- a/rbd-target-api.py
+++ b/rbd-target-api.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 import copy
 
 from functools import (reduce, wraps)
-from rpm import labelCompare
 import rados
 import rbd
 
@@ -2624,10 +2623,8 @@ def pre_reqs_errors():
         "opensuse-leap": "suse"}
     valid_dists = {
         "redhat": 7.4,
-        "suse": 15.1}
-
-    k_vers = '3.10.0'
-    k_rel = '823.el7'
+        "suse": 15.1,
+        "debian": 10}
 
     errors_found = []
 
@@ -2649,19 +2646,6 @@ def pre_reqs_errors():
     else:
         errors_found.append("OS is unsupported")
 
-    # check the running kernel is OK (required kernel has patches to rbd.ko)
-    os_info = os.uname()
-    this_arch = os_info[-1]
-    this_kernel = os_info[2].replace(".{}".format(this_arch), '')
-    this_ver, this_rel = this_kernel.split('-', 1)
-
-    # use labelCompare from the rpm module to handle the comparison
-    if labelCompare(('1', this_ver, this_rel), ('1', k_vers, k_rel)) < 0:
-        logger.error("Kernel version check failed")
-        errors_found.append("Kernel version too old - {}-{} "
-                            "or above needed".format(k_vers,
-                                                     k_rel))
-
     return errors_found
 
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 550380ac..f3800e1a 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -22,6 +22,5 @@ deps =
 	cryptography
 	rtslib_fb
 	netifaces
-	rpm
 commands=
-	{envbindir}/py.test --ignore=test/test_group.py test/
\ No newline at end of file
+	{envbindir}/py.test --ignore=test/test_group.py test/