diff --git a/make/py-mod.mk b/make/py-mod.mk
index 88f0cb58..5d82fe44 100644
--- a/make/py-mod.mk
+++ b/make/py-mod.mk
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ __pycache__/%.cpython-37.pyc: %.py
 endif
 	$(PYTHON) -c "import py_compile; py_compile.compile(\"$<\", doraise=True)"
 
-ifeq ($(PYTHON),python3)
+ifeq ($(PYTHON_VERSION),3)
 $(PY_INSTALL_DIR_PY)/__pycache__/%.cpython-37.pyc: __pycache__/%.cpython-37.pyc
 else
 $(PY_INSTALL_DIR_PY)/%.pyc: %.pyc