diff --git a/vtk-5.6.0-python27.patch b/vtk-5.6.0-python27.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b37dd52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vtk-5.6.0-python27.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+diff --git a/CMake/FindPythonLibs.cmake b/CMake/FindPythonLibs.cmake
+index 1ba21b5..217e7e9 100644
+--- a/CMake/FindPythonLibs.cmake
++++ b/CMake/FindPythonLibs.cmake
+@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ INCLUDE(CMakeFindFrameworks)
+ # Search for the python framework on Apple.
+ CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORKS(Python)
+ 
+-FOREACH(_CURRENT_VERSION 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.6 1.5)
++FOREACH(_CURRENT_VERSION 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.6 1.5)
+   STRING(REPLACE "." "" _CURRENT_VERSION_NO_DOTS ${_CURRENT_VERSION})
+   IF(WIN32)
+     FIND_LIBRARY(PYTHON_DEBUG_LIBRARY
diff --git a/vtk-5.6.0-testcxxjavaremove.patch b/vtk-5.6.0-testcxxjavaremove.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36a6961
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vtk-5.6.0-testcxxjavaremove.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+--- VTK/Graphics/Testing/Cxx/CMakeLists.txt.testcxxjava	2010-03-31 18:44:26.000000000 +0200
++++ VTK/Graphics/Testing/Cxx/CMakeLists.txt	2010-07-10 11:29:39.943549435 +0200
+@@ -107,17 +107,3 @@
+   ENDFOREACH (test) 
+ ENDIF (VTK_USE_RENDERING AND VTK_USE_DISPLAY)
+ 
+-IF (VTK_WRAP_JAVA)
+-   ADD_EXECUTABLE(TestJavaProgrammableFilter TestJavaProgrammableFilter.cxx)
+-   ADD_TEST(TestJavaProgrammableFilter
+-     ${CXX_TEST_PATH}/TestJavaProgrammableFilter
+-     -j ${LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH}/vtk.jar
+-     -cp ${LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH}/vtk.jar
+-     -class vtk/SampleAlgorithm
+-      )
+-  TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(TestJavaProgrammableFilter
+-    vtkGraphicsJava
+-    ${JAVA_AWT_LIBRARY}
+-    ${JAVA_JVM_LIBRARY}
+-    )
+-ENDIF (VTK_WRAP_JAVA)
diff --git a/vtk.spec b/vtk.spec
index e778399..38b81ae 100644
--- a/vtk.spec
+++ b/vtk.spec
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 Summary: The Visualization Toolkit - A high level 3D visualization library
 Name: vtk
 Version: 5.6.0
-Release: 35%{?dist}
+Release: 36%{?dist}
 # This is a variant BSD license, a cross between BSD and ZLIB.
 # For all intents, it has the same rights and restrictions as BSD.
 # http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#VTKBSDVariant
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ Source: http://www.vtk.org/files/release/5.6/%{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
 Patch0: vtk-5.2.0-pythondestdir.patch
 Patch1: vtk-5.2.0-gcc43.patch
 Patch2: vtk-5.6.0-testcxxjavaremove.patch
+
+# Python 2.7 compatibility: not yet sent upstream:
+Patch3: vtk-5.6.0-python27.patch
+
 URL: http://vtk.org/
 BuildRoot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-root
 BuildRequires: cmake >= 2.0.4
@@ -118,6 +122,7 @@ programming languages.
 %patch0 -p1 -b .pythondestdir
 %patch1 -p1 -b .gcc43
 %patch2 -p1 -b .testcxxjava
+%patch3 -p1 -b .python27
 
 # Replace relative path ../../../VTKData with %{_datadir}/vtkdata-%{version}
 # otherwise it will break on symlinks.
@@ -415,6 +420,9 @@ rm -rf %{buildroot}
 %doc vtk-examples-5.6/Examples
 
 %changelog
+* Sat Jul 31 2010 David Malcolm <dmalcolm@redhat.com> - 5.6.0-36
+- add python 2.7 compat patch
+
 * Thu Jul 22 2010 David Malcolm <dmalcolm@redhat.com> - 5.6.0-35
 - Rebuilt for https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Python_2.7/MassRebuild