diff --git a/deps/buildcore/base.mk b/deps/buildcore/base.mk
index 5e4d10be..b9cb26f3 100644
--- a/deps/buildcore/base.mk
+++ b/deps/buildcore/base.mk
@@ -24,10 +24,12 @@ ifneq ($(shell which docker 2> /dev/null),)
 	endif
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(shell ${ENV_RUN} python -c 'import sys; print(sys.version_info[0])'),3)
-	PYTHON3=python
-else
+ifneq ($(shell which python3 2> /dev/null),)
 	PYTHON3=python3
+else
+	ifeq ($(shell ${ENV_RUN} python -c 'import sys; print(sys.version_info[0])'),3)
+		PYTHON3=python
+	endif
 endif
 
 SCRIPTS=${BUILDCORE_PATH}/scripts