diff --git a/Makefile.builder b/Makefile.builder
index 8f39fea..3721778 100644
--- a/Makefile.builder
+++ b/Makefile.builder
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 ifeq ($(PACKAGE_SET),dom0)
   RPM_SPEC_FILES := rpm_spec/qpdf-converter-dom0.spec 
 else ifeq ($(PACKAGE_SET),vm)
-  ifneq ($(filter $(DISTRIBUTION), debian qubuntu),)
+  # needs python 3.7+ - exclude stretch, jessie, and centos[78]
+  ifeq ($(filter $(DIST), stretch jessie centos7 centos8),)
     DEBIAN_BUILD_DIRS := debian
+    RPM_SPEC_FILES := rpm_spec/qpdf-converter.spec
   endif
-
-  RPM_SPEC_FILES := rpm_spec/qpdf-converter.spec
 endif
 
 # vim: filetype=make
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 29814ce..77aef54 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Architecture: any
 Depends:
  poppler-utils,
  imagemagick,
+ python3 (>= 3.7.0),
  python3-nautilus | python-nautilus,
  python3-click,
  python3-pillow,
diff --git a/rpm_spec/qpdf-converter.spec.in b/rpm_spec/qpdf-converter.spec.in
index 645767d..bca14fa 100644
--- a/rpm_spec/qpdf-converter.spec.in
+++ b/rpm_spec/qpdf-converter.spec.in
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ BuildRequires: python%{python3_pkgversion}-devel
 
 Requires:	poppler-utils ImageMagick
 Requires:	nautilus-python
+Requires:	python%{python3_pkgversion} >= 3.7
 Requires:	python%{python3_pkgversion}-pillow
 Requires:	python%{python3_pkgversion}-click
 Requires:	python%{python3_pkgversion}-tqdm