diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index bbd1dd7df245627cc69d5401c09672c5fc16cc96..11ddac29ce2bd55b953782597e9a6f3a4fb0e862 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ python-defaults (2.7.2-2) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
       maintainer script's -X arguments (thanks to Jakub Wilk for the patch)
     - deal with original symlinks more carefully (closes: 627969, thanks to
       Leonid Borisenko for the original patch)
+    - add --ignore-shebangs option that will disable translating shebangs into
+      Debian dependencies
 
  -- Piotr Ożarowski <piotr@debian.org>  Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:28:48 +0200
 
diff --git a/debpython/depends.py b/debpython/depends.py
index 669ce4a3d342e99b9cff92ab769c14136674a5f9..e74d68b48a3d02199509ce4426d667f7dbf5354b 100644
--- a/debpython/depends.py
+++ b/debpython/depends.py
@@ -112,15 +112,20 @@ class Dependencies(object):
         if stats['compile']:
             self.depend(MINPYCDEP)
 
-        for interpreter, version in stats['shebangs']:
-            self.depend(interpreter)
+        if not options.ignore_shebangs:
+            for interpreter, version in stats['shebangs']:
+                self.depend(interpreter)
 
         for private_dir, details in stats['private_dirs'].iteritems():
-            versions = list(v for i, v in details.get('shebangs', []) if v)
+            if options.ignore_shebangs:
+                versions = []
+            else:
+                versions = list(v for i, v in details.get('shebangs', []) if v)
+
             if len(versions) > 1:
                 log.error('more than one Python dependency from shebangs'
                           '(%s shebang versions: %s)', private_dir, versions)
-                exit(13)
+                exit(13)  # TODO: move this to dh_python2 (and raise exception here)
             elif len(versions) == 1:  # one hardcoded version
                 self.depend("python%d.%d" % versions[0])
                 # TODO: if versions[0] not in requested_versions: FTBFS
diff --git a/dh_python2 b/dh_python2
index 41d6e692cab4a2856099abec7b7584268d8106f0..b441decf136d7ae9399e7c966ea63909af3604ce 100755
--- a/dh_python2
+++ b/dh_python2
@@ -486,6 +486,8 @@ def main():
         help='recreate __init__.py files for given namespaces at install time')
     parser.add_option('--clean-pycentral', action='store_true', default=False,
         help='generate maintainer script that will remove pycentral files')
+    parser.add_option('--ignore-shebangs', action='store_true', default=False,
+        help='do not translate shebangs into Debian dependencies')
     # ignore some debhelper options:
     parser.add_option('-O', help=SUPPRESS_HELP)
 
diff --git a/dh_python2.rst b/dh_python2.rst
index 079d9961f282fda81f97c9f89cdd403181e7139d..bc2db930db30a5fa4d6097670b6f918c53c02152 100644
--- a/dh_python2.rst
+++ b/dh_python2.rst
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ OPTIONS
 --clean-pycentral	generate maintainer script that will remove byte code
   generated by python-central helper
 
+--ignore-shebangs	do not translate shebangs into Debian dependencies
+
 SEE ALSO
 ========
 * /usr/share/doc/python/python-policy.txt.gz