diff --git a/src/Build/Tools/makeself_repro_finalize.py b/src/Build/Tools/makeself_repro_finalize.py
index 9514211f..159503d1 100755
--- a/src/Build/Tools/makeself_repro_finalize.py
+++ b/src/Build/Tools/makeself_repro_finalize.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 #
 # Copyright (c) 2026 VeraCrypt
 # Governed by the Apache License 2.0.
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 #     CRCsum makes its extractor skip the redundant CRC check.
 #   - MD5 is recomputed, which the extractor still verifies.
 #
+# Compatible with Python >= 2.6 and Python 3.
+#
 # Usage: makeself_repro_finalize.py <archive>
 
 import hashlib
@@ -23,28 +25,27 @@ import sys
 
 def finalize(path):
     with open(path, "rb") as f:
-        raw = bytearray(f.read())
-    text = raw.decode("latin1", errors="replace")
+        raw = f.read()
+    text = raw.decode("latin1")
     # Locate payload start by line count, mirroring makeself's own extractor.
     m = re.search(r'^skip="(\d+)"', text, re.MULTILINE)
     if not m:
-        sys.exit(f"{path}: no skip= line in makeself header")
+        sys.exit("%s: no skip= line in makeself header" % path)
     skip = int(m.group(1))
     header_text = "\n".join(text.split("\n")[:skip]) + "\n"
     offset = len(header_text.encode("latin1"))
-    if bytes(raw[offset:offset + 3]) != b"\x1f\x8b\x08":
-        sys.exit(f"{path}: no gzip magic at payload offset {offset}")
+    if raw[offset:offset + 3] != b"\x1f\x8b\x08":
+        sys.exit("%s: no gzip magic at payload offset %d" % (path, offset))
     # gzip header mtime: 4-byte LE uint at offset+4 (RFC 1952 section 2.3.1).
-    raw[offset + 4:offset + 8] = b"\x00\x00\x00\x00"
-    payload = bytes(raw[offset:])
+    payload = raw[offset:offset + 4] + b"\x00\x00\x00\x00" + raw[offset + 8:]
     new_md5 = hashlib.md5(payload).hexdigest()
     # CRCsum -> all zeros (extractor then skips the CRC check); MD5 -> fresh.
     new_header = re.sub(r'CRCsum="[^"]*"', 'CRCsum="0000000000"', header_text)
-    new_header = re.sub(r'MD5="[0-9a-fA-F]+"', f'MD5="{new_md5}"', new_header)
+    new_header = re.sub(r'MD5="[0-9a-fA-F]+"', 'MD5="%s"' % new_md5, new_header)
     new_bytes = new_header.encode("latin1")
     # Line count must stay the same so makeself's "skip=" remains accurate.
     if new_bytes.count(b"\n") != skip:
-        sys.exit(f"{path}: header line count changed during rewrite")
+        sys.exit("%s: header line count changed during rewrite" % path)
     with open(path, "wb") as f:
         f.write(new_bytes + payload)
 
diff --git a/src/Main/Main.make b/src/Main/Main.make
index d90d40d3..faa25fbb 100755
--- a/src/Main/Main.make
+++ b/src/Main/Main.make
@@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ TAR_DETERMINISTIC       := $(strip $(shell t=$$(mktemp 2>/dev/null) && tar --sor
 GZIP_NO_TIMESTAMP       := $(strip $(shell printf x | gzip -n -c >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo yes))
 MAKESELF_PACKAGING_DATE := $(strip $(shell makeself --help 2>&1 | grep -q -- '--packaging-date' && echo yes))
 MAKESELF_TAR_EXTRA      := $(strip $(shell makeself --help 2>&1 | grep -q -- '--tar-extra' && echo yes))
+PYTHON_REPRO_FINALIZE   := $(strip $(shell for p in python3 python python2; do command -v $$p >/dev/null 2>&1 || continue; $$p -c 'import sys; v=sys.version_info; sys.exit(not (v[0] > 2 or (v[0] == 2 and v[1] >= 6)))' >/dev/null 2>&1 && command -v $$p && break; done))
 
 INSTALL_UNINSTALLER ?= 1
 INSTALL_LICENSE ?= 1
@@ -631,11 +632,11 @@ endif
 	# makeself runs 'gzip -c9 < tmpfile' which writes tmpfile's mtime into
 	# the gzip header (SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is ignored for redirected stdin).
 	# Zero the mtime and refresh CRCsum/MD5; installer --check still passes.
-	@if command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
-		python3 $(BASE_DIR)/Build/Tools/makeself_repro_finalize.py \
-			$(BASE_DIR)/Setup/Linux/$(INSTALLER_NAME); \
+	@if [ -n "$(PYTHON_REPRO_FINALIZE)" ]; then \
+		"$(PYTHON_REPRO_FINALIZE)" "$(BASE_DIR)/Build/Tools/makeself_repro_finalize.py" \
+			"$(BASE_DIR)/Setup/Linux/$(INSTALLER_NAME)"; \
 	else \
-		echo "Reproducible build: python3 unavailable, skipping makeself finalize"; \
+		echo "Reproducible build: Python 2.6+ unavailable, skipping makeself finalize"; \
 	fi
 
 appimage: prepare