diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index 66a1aace73..cbd44b4dd4 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ reset_pkg_vars() {
   PKG_LICENSE="unknown"
   PKG_TOOLCHAIN="auto"
   PKG_IS_ADDON="no"
-  PKG_PYTHON_VERSION="python2.7"
+  PKG_PYTHON_VERSION="${DEFAULT_PYTHON_VERSION}"
 }
 
 set_debug_depends() {
diff --git a/config/options b/config/options
index 2bebb8d4cc..63239b6151 100644
--- a/config/options
+++ b/config/options
@@ -106,5 +106,9 @@ check_config
 # If the package caches are unset, then populate them
 init_package_cache
 
+if [ -z "${DEFAULT_PYTHON_VERSION+set}" ]; then
+  export DEFAULT_PYTHON_VERSION="$(get_pkg_variable Python3 PKG_PYTHON_VERSION)"
+fi
+
 # set package metadata
 source_package "${1}"