diff --git a/scripts/brp-python-bytecompile b/scripts/brp-python-bytecompile
index 894fa34..c06bdfa 100644
--- a/scripts/brp-python-bytecompile
+++ b/scripts/brp-python-bytecompile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 errors_terminate=$2
+extra=$3
 
 # If using normal root, avoid changing anything.
 if [ -z "$RPM_BUILD_ROOT" -o "$RPM_BUILD_ROOT" = "/" ]; then
@@ -79,14 +80,22 @@ do
 done
 
 
-# Handle other locations in the filesystem using the default python
-# implementation - if we  have a default python interpreter
+# Handle other locations in the filesystem using the default python implementation
+# if extra is set to 0, don't do this
+if [ 0$extra -eq 0 ]; then
+	exit 0
+fi
 
+# If we don't have a default python interpreter, we cannot proceed
 default_python=${1:-/usr/bin/python}
 if [ ! -x "$default_python" ]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
+# Figure out if there are files to be bytecompiled with the default_python at all
+# this prevents unnecessary default_python invocation
+find "$RPM_BUILD_ROOT" -type f -name "*.py" | grep -Ev "/bin/|/sbin/|/usr/lib(64)?/python[0-9]\.[0-9]|/usr/share/doc" || exit 0
+
 # Generate normal (.pyc) byte-compiled files.
 python_bytecompile "" $default_python "/bin/|/sbin/|/usr/lib(64)?/python[0-9]\.[0-9]|/usr/share/doc" "$RPM_BUILD_ROOT" "$depth" "/"
 if [ $? -ne 0 -a 0$errors_terminate -ne 0 ]; then