diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 435b1616a4a9..dfb32e8fdc76 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ export SHELL=/bin/bash -e
 # Where do we find the common configuration.
 export DROOT=debian
 
+# Temporary workaround to fix build issues if only python2 runtime is installed
+# (without python3-dev).
+export PYTHON=python3
+
 # Common variables for all architectures
 include $(DROOT)/rules.d/0-common-vars.mk