diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 03157c7378..391b204c95 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ fi
 
 : ${make=${MAKE-make}}
 : ${install=${INSTALL-install}}
-: ${python=${PYTHON-python}}
+: ${python=${PYTHON-python -B}}
 : ${smbd=${SMBD-/usr/sbin/smbd}}
 
 # Default objcc to clang if available, otherwise use CC
@@ -1349,7 +1349,7 @@ fi
 
 # Note that if the Python conditional here evaluates True we will exit
 # with status 1 which is a shell 'false' value.
-if ! "$python" -c 'import sys; sys.exit(sys.version_info < (2,4) or sys.version_info >= (3,))'; then
+if ! $python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(sys.version_info < (2,4) or sys.version_info >= (3,))'; then
   error_exit "Cannot use '$python', Python 2.4 or later is required." \
       "Note that Python 3 or later is not yet supported." \
       "Use --python=/path/to/python to specify a supported Python."