diff --git a/src/stimfit/gui/app.h b/src/stimfit/gui/app.h
index c1285cf4..bfc2522c 100755
--- a/src/stimfit/gui/app.h
+++ b/src/stimfit/gui/app.h
@@ -201,11 +201,13 @@ enum {
 #if defined(__WXMAC__) || defined(__WXGTK__)
   #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wwrite-strings"
 #endif
+#ifdef WITH_PYTHON
 #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
 #include <wx/wxPython/wxpy_api.h>
 #else
 #include <wx/wxPython/wxPython.h>
 #endif
+#endif
 // revert to previous behaviour
 #if defined(__WXMAC__) || defined(__WXGTK__)
   #pragma GCC diagnostic warning "-Wwrite-strings"
diff --git a/src/stimfit/gui/doc.cpp b/src/stimfit/gui/doc.cpp
index b5305724..ded01b3f 100755
--- a/src/stimfit/gui/doc.cpp
+++ b/src/stimfit/gui/doc.cpp
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@
 #include "./../../libstfnum/funclib.h"
 #include "./../../libstfnum/measure.h"
 #include "./../../libstfio/stfio.h"
+#ifdef WITH_PYTHON
 #include "./../../pystfio/pystfio.h"
+#endif
+
 #include "./usrdlg/usrdlg.h"
 #include "./doc.h"
 #include "./graph.h"
@@ -231,8 +234,13 @@ bool wxStfDoc::OnOpenDocument(const wxString& filename) {
         }
 #endif
         if (type == stfio::tdms) {
+#ifdef WITH_PYTHON
             if (!LoadTDMS(stf::wx2std(filename), *this)) {
                 wxString errorMsg(wxT("Error opening file\n"));
+#else
+            {
+                wxString errorMsg(wxT("Error opening file - TDMS requires python \n"));
+#endif
                 wxGetApp().ExceptMsg(errorMsg);
                 get().clear();
                 return false;