+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