diff --git a/support/dependencies/check-host-python2.mk b/support/dependencies/check-host-python2.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddae701
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/dependencies/check-host-python2.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+PYTHON2 = $(call suitable-host-package,python2)
+
+ifeq ($(PYTHON2),)
+  NEED_PYTHON2 = host-python
+  PYTHON2 = $(HOST_DIR)/usr/bin/python
+endif
diff --git a/support/dependencies/check-host-python2.sh b/support/dependencies/check-host-python2.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6ad4b3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/dependencies/check-host-python2.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+candidates="python python2"
+
+for candidate in ${candidates} ; do
+  which ${candidate} &>/dev/null || continue
+  # restrict version of python2 to 2.6 or 2.7
+  if ${candidate} --version 2>&1 | grep -q 'Python 2\.[6-7].*' ; then
+    # found a valid candidate, so quit now
+    echo $(which ${candidate})
+    exit
+  fi
+done