diff --git a/m4/ax_python_devel.m4 b/m4/ax_python_devel.m4
--- a/m4/ax_python_devel.m4
+++ b/m4/ax_python_devel.m4
@@ -116,9 +116,11 @@
 	#
 	if test -n "$1"; then
 		AC_MSG_CHECKING([for a version of Python $1])
-		ac_supports_python_ver=`$PYTHON -c "import sys; \
-			ver = sys.version.split ()[[0]]; \
-			print (ver $1)"`
+		read -r op ver <<< "$1"
+		script="m4_join([;], [import sys], [ver = sys.version_info[:3]],
+		               [minver = tuple(map(int, ${ver}.split('.')))],
+			       [print (ver ${op} minver)])"
+		ac_supports_python_ver=`$PYTHON -c "$script"`
 		if test "$ac_supports_python_ver" = "True"; then
 		   AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
 		else
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@
 				ac_python_version=$PYTHON_VERSION
 			else
 				ac_python_version=`$PYTHON -c "import sys; \
-					print (sys.version[[:3]])"`
+					print ("%d.%d" % sys.version_info[[:2]])"`
 			fi
 		fi
 
diff --git a/m4/ax_python.m4 b/m4/ax_python.m4
--- a/m4/ax_python.m4
+++ b/m4/ax_python.m4
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 AC_DEFUN([AX_PYTHON],
 [AC_MSG_CHECKING(for python build information)
 AC_MSG_RESULT([])
-for python in python3.9 python3.8 python3.7 python3.6 python3.5 python3.4 python3.3 python3.2 python3.1 python3.0 python2.7 python2.6 python2.5 python2.4 python2.3 python2.2 python2.1 python; do
+for python in python3.11 python3.10 python3.9 python3.8 python3.7 python3.6 python3.5 python3.4 python3.3 python3.2 python3.1 python3.0 python2.7 python2.6 python2.5 python2.4 python2.3 python2.2 python2.1 python; do
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(PYTHON_BIN, [$python])
 ax_python_bin=$PYTHON_BIN
 if test x$ax_python_bin != x; then