diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index db1287842..1abf2be4f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.6)
 
-set(PY_VERSION_MAJOR 2 CACHE STRING "Python major version")
-set(PY_VERSION_MINOR 7 CACHE STRING "Python minor version")
-set(PY_VERSION_PATCH 11 CACHE STRING "Python patch version")
+set(PYTHON_VERSION "2.7.12" CACHE STRING "The version of Python to build.")
+
+string(REPLACE "." ";" VERSION_LIST ${PYTHON_VERSION})
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 0 PY_VERSION_MAJOR)
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 1 PY_VERSION_MINOR)
+list(GET VERSION_LIST 2 PY_VERSION_PATCH)
 set(PY_VERSION "${PY_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PY_VERSION_MINOR}.${PY_VERSION_PATCH}")
 
 if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE AND NOT CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES)
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 88020020c..4a6dfe2d8 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ How to use this buildsystem:
 
 .. note::
 
-  By default, the build system will download the python 2.7.8 source from
+  By default, the build system will download the python 2.7.12 source from
   http://www.python.org/ftp/python/
 
 
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ options on the commandline with `-DOPTION=VALUE`, or use the "ccmake" gui.
 
 ::
 
+  PYTHON_VERSION=major.minor.patch (defaults to 2.7.12)
+    The version of Python to build.
+
   CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug|Release
     Build with debugging symbols or with optimisations.
 
@@ -66,7 +69,7 @@ options on the commandline with `-DOPTION=VALUE`, or use the "ccmake" gui.
 
   DOWNLOAD_SOURCES=ON|OFF      (defaults to ON)
     Download, check MD5 sum and extract python sources in the parent directory.
-    Source archive is downloaded from http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.8/Python-2.7.8.tgz
+    Source archive is downloaded from http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.12/Python-2.7.12.tgz
 
   BUILD_LIBPYTHON_SHARED=ON|OFF (defaults to OFF)
     Build libpython as a shared library (.so or .dll) or a static library
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ options on the commandline with `-DOPTION=VALUE`, or use the "ccmake" gui.
                                  NT extensions which are builtin by default)
     These two options control how individual python extensions are built.
     <extension> is the name of the extension in upper case, and without any
-    leading underscore (_).  Known extensions for 2.7.8 include:
+    leading underscore (_).  Known extensions for 2.7.12 include:
 
       ARRAY AUDIOOP BINASCII BISECT BSDDB BZ2 CMATH CODECS_CN CODECS_HK
       CODECS_ISO2022 CODECS_JP CODECS_KR CODECS_TW COLLECTIONS CPICKLE CRYPT