diff --git a/BUILD.txt b/BUILD.txt
index 7901d0748..1729daebf 100644
--- a/BUILD.txt
+++ b/BUILD.txt
@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ It may be possible to do a simple make install but this has not been
 well-tested. Additional work is done in pre/post install scripts in the ipa
 spec file.
 
+To build only python2 packages on fedora following steps are required:
+$ autoreconf -i
+$ ./configure
+$ make rpms RPMBUILD_OPTS="--define 'with_python3 0'"
+
 Developing plugins
 ------------------
 
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index cbe4f2df4..972e26001 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ rpms: $(VERSION_UPDATE_TARGET)
 	$(MAKE) _rpms-body
 
 _rpms-body: _rpms-prep
-	rpmbuild --define "_topdir $(RPMBUILD)" -ba $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE).spec
+	rpmbuild --define "_topdir $(RPMBUILD)" -ba $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE).spec  $(RPMBUILD_OPTS)
 	cp $(RPMBUILD)/RPMS/*/*$$(cat $(top_builddir)/.version)*.rpm $(top_builddir)/dist/rpms/
 	cp $(RPMBUILD)/SRPMS/*$$(cat $(top_builddir)/.version)*.src.rpm $(top_builddir)/dist/srpms/
 	rm -f rm -f $(top_builddir)/.version
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ srpms: $(VERSION_UPDATE_TARGET)
 	$(MAKE) _srpms-body
 
 _srpms-body: _rpms-prep
-	rpmbuild --define "_topdir $(RPMBUILD)" -bs $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE).spec
+	rpmbuild --define "_topdir $(RPMBUILD)" -bs $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE).spec $(RPMBUILD_OPTS)
 	cp $(RPMBUILD)/SRPMS/*$$(cat $(top_builddir)/.version)*.src.rpm $(top_builddir)/dist/srpms/
 	rm -f rm -f $(top_builddir)/.version
 
diff --git a/freeipa.spec.in b/freeipa.spec.in
index 72f79c9f3..9fbe5ad00 100644
--- a/freeipa.spec.in
+++ b/freeipa.spec.in
@@ -17,11 +17,13 @@
     %global with_ipatests_option --without-ipatests
 %endif
 
+%if 0%{!?with_python3:1}
 %if 0%{?rhel}
 %global with_python3 0
 %else
 %global with_python3 1
 %endif
+%endif
 
 # lint is not executed during rpmbuild
 # %%global with_lint 1