diff --git a/src/lint/linter/ArcanistPEP8Linter.php b/src/lint/linter/ArcanistPEP8Linter.php
index 215a8a43..346fd2ef 100644
--- a/src/lint/linter/ArcanistPEP8Linter.php
+++ b/src/lint/linter/ArcanistPEP8Linter.php
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ final class ArcanistPEP8Linter extends ArcanistFutureLinter {
     $bin = $working_copy->getConfig('lint.pep8.bin');
 
     if ($bin === null && $prefix === null) {
-      $bin = csprintf('/usr/bin/env python %s',
+      $bin = csprintf('/usr/bin/env python2.6 %s',
                phutil_get_library_root('arcanist').
                '/../externals/pep8/pep8.py');
     } else {
@@ -74,13 +74,6 @@ final class ArcanistPEP8Linter extends ArcanistFutureLinter {
       }
     }
 
-    list(, $stderr) = execx('/usr/bin/env python -V');
-    if ($stderr < 'Python 2.5') {
-      throw new ArcanistUsageException(
-        "Python 2.5 or greater is required to run the PEP8 Python linter, but ".
-        rtrim($stderr)." was found instead.");
-    }
-
     return $bin;
   }