diff --git a/Modules/FindPythonInterp.cmake b/Modules/FindPythonInterp.cmake
index 46cde437f..a10ec2371 100644
--- a/Modules/FindPythonInterp.cmake
+++ b/Modules/FindPythonInterp.cmake
@@ -4,11 +4,17 @@
 #
 #  PYTHONINTERP_FOUND         - Was the Python executable found
 #  PYTHON_EXECUTABLE          - path to the Python interpreter
-#  Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS - list of additional Python versions to search for
 #
+#  PYTHON_VERSION_STRING      - Python version found e.g. 2.5.2
+#  PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR       - Python major version found e.g. 2
+#  PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR       - Python minor version found e.g. 5
+#  PYTHON_VERSION_PATCH       - Python patch version found e.g. 2
+#
+#  Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS - list of additional Python versions to search for
 
 #=============================================================================
 # Copyright 2005-2010 Kitware, Inc.
+# Copyright 2011 Bjoern Ricks <bjoern.ricks@gmail.com>
 #
 # Distributed under the OSI-approved BSD License (the "License");
 # see accompanying file Copyright.txt for details.
@@ -20,32 +26,41 @@
 # (To distribute this file outside of CMake, substitute the full
 #  License text for the above reference.)
 
+# Search for the current active python version first
+find_program(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE NAMES python)
+
 # Set up the versions we know about, in the order we will search. Always add
 # the user supplied additional versions to the front.
 set(_Python_VERSIONS
   ${Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS}
   2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.6 1.5)
 
-# Run first with the Python version in the executable
-foreach(_CURRENT_VERSION ${_Python_VERSIONS})
-  set(_Python_NAMES python${_CURRENT_VERSION})
-  if(WIN32)
-    list(APPEND _Python_NAMES python)
-  endif()
-  find_program(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE
-    NAMES ${_Python_NAMES}
-    PATHS [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Python\\PythonCore\\${_CURRENT_VERSION}\\InstallPath]
-    )
-endforeach()
-# Now without any version if we still haven't found it
+# Search for newest python version if python executable isn't found
 if(NOT PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
-  find_program(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE NAMES python)
+    foreach(_CURRENT_VERSION ${_Python_VERSIONS})
+      set(_Python_NAMES python${_CURRENT_VERSION})
+      if(WIN32)
+        list(APPEND _Python_NAMES python)
+      endif()
+      find_program(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE
+        NAMES ${_Python_NAMES}
+        PATHS [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Python\\PythonCore\\${_CURRENT_VERSION}\\InstallPath]
+        )
+    endforeach()
 endif()
 
+# determine python version string
+if(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
+    execute_process(COMMAND "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}" --version ERROR_VARIABLE _VERSION OUTPUT_QUIET ERROR_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+    string(REPLACE "Python " "" PYTHON_VERSION_STRING "${_VERSION}")
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "^([0-9]+)\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+.*" "\\1" PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR "${PYTHON_VERSION_STRING}")
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "^[0-9]+\\.([0-9])+\\.[0-9]+.*" "\\1" PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR "${PYTHON_VERSION_STRING}")
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "^[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.([0-9]+).*" "\\1" PYTHON_VERSION_PATCH "${PYTHON_VERSION_STRING}")
+endif()
 
 # handle the QUIETLY and REQUIRED arguments and set PYTHONINTERP_FOUND to TRUE if
 # all listed variables are TRUE
 include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake)
-FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(PythonInterp DEFAULT_MSG PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
+FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(PythonInterp REQUIRED_VARS PYTHON_EXECUTABLE VERSION_VAR PYTHON_VERSION_STRING)
 
 mark_as_advanced(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)