diff --git a/make/swig.mk b/make/swig.mk
index 5e98f8af..f6ad83d4 100644
--- a/make/swig.mk
+++ b/make/swig.mk
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@ ifeq ($(SWIG_TARGET),php)
 
   SWIG_LANG                  ?= php
   SWIG_TARGET_EXT            ?= php
-  PHP_MAJOR                  := $(shell php-config --version | cut -d. -f1)
+  ifeq ($(OS_NAME),ubuntu)
+    PHP_MAJOR                ?= 5
+  else
+    PHP_MAJOR                ?= $(shell php-config --version | cut -d. -f1)
+  endif
   PHP                        ?= php$(PHP_MAJOR)
   #PHP                        ?= $(firstword $(notdir $(wildcard /usr/share/php*)))
   SWIG_OPTS                   ?= -$(PHP) -DJW_PHP_MAJOR=$(PHP_MAJOR)