Package: python3.6 Version: 3.6.8-1 When I try to create a virtualenv using a freshly installed python3.6 it fails with below output: root@m2:~# virtualenv venv3.6 --python=python3.6 Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/bin/python3.6 Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist line 25, in <module> import distutils.spawn ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.spawn' same command run on some older system (also debian8, but older python3.6 (3.6.6-4) ) works ok: root@m1:~# virtualenv venv3.6 --python=python3.6 Running virtualenv with interpreter /usr/bin/python3.6 Using base prefix '/usr' New python executable in /root/venv3.6/bin/python3.6 Also creating executable in /root/venv3.6/bin/python Installing setuptools, pip, wheel... done. unix.stackexchange.com unix.stackexchange.com