diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 17f9b64e0..d638baf72 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ option(ENABLE_TESTS "Enable build tests for EXP, pyEXP and helpers" ON)
 option(ENABLE_MINIMAL "Compile EXP support libraries only" OFF)
 option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "Build using shared libraries" ON)
 option(BUILD_DOCS "Build documentation" OFF)
+option(DISABLE_PYTHON "Disable the Python development environment" OFF)
 
 # Metaflag for minimal build
 
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ if(ENABLE_MINIMAL)
   set(ENABLE_UTILS OFF)
   set(ENABLE_TESTS OFF)
 endif()
-  
+
 # Metaflag for pyEXP only
 
 if(ENABLE_PYEXP_ONLY)
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ if(ENABLE_PYEXP_ONLY)
   set(ENABLE_UTILS OFF)
   set(ENABLE_TESTS OFF)
 endif()
-  
+
 # Set mpirun launcher for CTest
 
 set(EXP_MPI_LAUNCH "mpirun" CACHE STRING "Command to run an MPI application (for unit tests only)")
@@ -299,7 +300,9 @@ if(ENABLE_TESTS)
 endif()
 
 # try to find pybind11 and build wrapper python module
-find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
+if (NOT DISABLE_PYTHON)
+  find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
+endif()
 message(STATUS "python3 include dirs: ${Python3_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
 if(Python3_FOUND)
   set(HAVE_PYTHON3 TRUE)
@@ -405,4 +408,3 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_UBSAN
 # from the same source.
 configure_file(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/config_cmake.h_in ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/config_exp.h)
 include_directories(${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR})
-
diff --git a/exputil/DiskDensityFunc.cc b/exputil/DiskDensityFunc.cc
index 65418193e..44ad15990 100644
--- a/exputil/DiskDensityFunc.cc
+++ b/exputil/DiskDensityFunc.cc
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ DiskDensityFunc::DiskDensityFunc(const std::string& modulename,
 				 const std::string& funcname)
   : funcname(funcname)
 {
-  throw std::runtime_error("DiskDensityFunc: you environoment does not have Python3 support.  Use a built-in density target or install Python3 and recompile");
+  throw std::runtime_error("DiskDensityFunc: your environoment does not have Python3 support.  Use a built-in density target or install Python3 and recompile");
 }
 
 DiskDensityFunc::~DiskDensityFunc()
diff --git a/include/DiskDensityFunc.H b/include/DiskDensityFunc.H
index 637d8cb14..f2b521e5b 100644
--- a/include/DiskDensityFunc.H
+++ b/include/DiskDensityFunc.H
@@ -2,11 +2,15 @@
 #define _DiskDensityFunc_H_
 
 #include <functional>
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <string>
 
 #include "config_exp.h"
 
+#ifdef HAVE_PYTHON3
 #include <pybind11/pybind11.h>
 #include <pybind11/embed.h>
+#endif
 
 /** Python disk-density function wrapper
 
@@ -26,9 +30,9 @@
         a = 1.0                            # Scale radius
         h = 0.2                            # Scale height
         f = math.exp(-0.5*math.fabs(z)/h)  # Prevent overflows
-        sech = 2.0*f / (1.0 + f*f)         # 
+        sech = 2.0*f / (1.0 + f*f)         #
         return math.exp(-R/a)*sech*sech/(8*math.pi*h*a*a)
-	
+
     --------------------------cut here--------------------------------
 
  */