diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/ncurses.patch b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/ncurses.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9054c03e7b517b6865a3bac7764844f707c3ee61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/ncurses.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+--- a/setup.py	2016-08-30 15:39:59.334926574 -0500
++++ b/setup.py	2016-08-30 15:46:57.227946339 -0500
+@@ -745,8 +745,6 @@
+         # use the same library for the readline and curses modules.
+         if 'curses' in readline_termcap_library:
+             curses_library = readline_termcap_library
+-        elif self.compiler.find_library_file(lib_dirs, 'ncursesw'):
+-            curses_library = 'ncursesw'
+         elif self.compiler.find_library_file(lib_dirs, 'ncurses'):
+             curses_library = 'ncurses'
+         elif self.compiler.find_library_file(lib_dirs, 'curses'):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
index e95bb4ba2482fd4634669af141f622c9d98ea9ed..f3380cf75d7b2045c591e330971deee07f65bd23 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ class Python(Package):
     depends_on("tk",  when="+tk")
     depends_on("tcl", when="+tk")
 
+    patch('ncurses.patch')
+
     @when('@2.7,3.4:')
     def patch(self):
         # NOTE: Python's default installation procedure makes it possible for a