diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 22991513c66cc410187dc37d04317adeef2c16b7..e778048ed72f6985121ace66b9b9261588745273 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ IF (HPP_DEBUG)
   SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DHPP_DEBUG")
 ENDIF()
 
+# search for python
+IF(NOT DEFINED PYTHON_DESIRED_VERSION)
+  SET(PYTHON_DESIRED_VERSION 2.7)
+ENDIF()
+FINDPYTHON(${PYTHON_DESIRED_VERSION} EXACT)
+
 ADD_DOC_DEPENDENCY("hpp-core >= 4.3")
 ADD_REQUIRED_DEPENDENCY("hpp-corbaserver >= 4.3")
 ADD_REQUIRED_DEPENDENCY("hpp-rbprm >= 4.3")
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index e92f9596c1697ef24ed5f30d9b53f8eb55d9b342..05caec46481f3d1dbbb0a0b0cf8144ffe7b79503 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ OMNIIDL_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(
   ${HPP_CORBASERVER_DATAROOTDIR}/idl ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/idl
   )
 
-# search for python
-FINDPYTHON(2.7 EXACT REQUIRED)
-
 INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src)
 FILE(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/hpp/corbaserver/rbprm)