diff --git a/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml b/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml
index 83f9eb7ece16f9c18531b91dbcd473295cd70a05..a6b361d908cff100401b1d9159e441182582066c 100644
--- a/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml
+++ b/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ packages:
       mpi: [openmpi, mpich]
       blas: [openblas]
       lapack: [openblas]
+      pil: [py-pillow]
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pil/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pil/package.py
index 2b3cce26d34fcabc7df2432fa880d970cb4674b8..29a86d1e8514c6df4406d1c6f37931c22795644d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pil/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pil/package.py
@@ -37,7 +37,10 @@ class PyPil(Package):
 
     provides('pil')
 
+    # py-pil currently only works with Python2.
+    # If you are using Python 3, try using py-pillow instead.
     extends('python')
+    depends_on('python@1.5.2:2.8')
 
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
         python('setup.py', 'install', '--prefix=%s' % prefix)