diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 293f585d105..a83f51e1571 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Read ["Installing Rust"] from [The Book].
 1. Make sure you have installed the dependencies:
 
    * `g++` 4.7 or `clang++` 3.x
-   * `python` 2.7 or later (but not 3.x)
+   * `python` 2.7 (but not 3.x)
    * GNU `make` 3.81 or later
    * `curl`
    * `git`
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 7958ac9bfcf..c05765975d4 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -729,12 +729,12 @@ step_msg "looking for build programs"
 
 probe_need CFG_CURLORWGET  curl wget
 if [ -z "$CFG_PYTHON_PROVIDED" ]; then
-    probe_need CFG_PYTHON      python2.7 python2.6 python2 python
+    probe_need CFG_PYTHON      python2.7 python2 python
 fi
 
 python_version=$($CFG_PYTHON -V 2>&1)
-if [ $(echo $python_version | grep -c '^Python 2\.[4567]') -ne 1 ]; then
-    err "Found $python_version, but LLVM requires Python 2.4-2.7"
+if [ $(echo $python_version | grep -c '^Python 2\.7') -ne 1 ]; then
+    err "Found $python_version, but Python 2.7 is required"
 fi
 
 # If we have no git directory then we are probably a tarball distribution