diff --git a/lib/spack/env/cc b/lib/spack/env/cc
index 9e71d25cafb53892d551d29e98e070e85be0dee0..266e41cb48616baf80cc7bd04374e64de25d0235 100755
--- a/lib/spack/env/cc
+++ b/lib/spack/env/cc
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 import sys
-if not sys.version_info[:2] >= (2,7):
-    sys.exit("Spack requires Python 2.7.  Version was %s." % sys.version_info)
+if not sys.version_info[:2] >= (2,6):
+    sys.exit("Spack requires Python 2.6.  Version was %s." % sys.version_info)
 
 import os
 import re
 import subprocess
-import argparse
 from contextlib import closing
 
 # Import spack parameters through the build environment.
@@ -18,6 +17,7 @@ if not spack_lib:
 # Grab a minimal set of spack packages
 sys.path.append(spack_lib)
 from spack.compilation import *
+from external import argparse
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 
 spack_prefix        = get_env_var("SPACK_PREFIX")
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/python_version.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/python_version.py
index f814df3226198cb736b74f35b823100e295609ec..04b4eadf3452bf91227a9d91dbff1752367f4c37 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/python_version.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/python_version.py
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class PythonVersionTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def spack_python_files(self):
         # first file is the spack script.
         yield spack.spack_file
+        yield os.path.join(spack.build_env_path, 'cc')
 
         # Next files are all the source files and package files.
         search_paths = [spack.lib_path, spack.var_path]