diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist_rpm.py
@@ -320,6 +320,7 @@
             rpm_cmd.append('-bb')
         else:
             rpm_cmd.append('-ba')
+        rpm_cmd.extend(['--define', '__python %s' % sys.executable])
         if self.rpm3_mode:
             rpm_cmd.extend(['--define',
                              '_topdir %s' % os.path.abspath(self.rpm_base)])