diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-xed/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-xed/package.py
index ac9a7a4b0ca26eb4604716df4f3245865e1cc747..31b157531e7d5b385ff0b4ef345ea504afaffdca 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-xed/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-xed/package.py
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ class IntelXed(Package):
 
     variant('debug', default=False, description='Enable debug symbols')
 
-    depends_on('python@2.7:', type='build')
+    # python module 'platform.linux_distribution' was removed in python 3.8
+    depends_on('python@2.7:3.7', type='build')
 
     conflicts('target=ppc64:', msg='intel-xed only runs on x86')
     conflicts('target=ppc64le:', msg='intel-xed only runs on x86')