diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 491585f9cf9219c3c6a83cb9f9b710adc6b7eacc..b421d14a45ac9892b2f8af9d89e1944f2d948017 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ env:
     - CTEST_PARALLEL_LEVEL=4
     - CTEST_OUTPUT_ON_FAILURE=1
     - CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG="-O1"
+    - BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE=ON
 
 matrix:
   include:
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@ script:
   - cd build
 
   # Configure
-  - cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD_TYPE -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-w -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG=${CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG} ..
+  - cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD_TYPE -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-w -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG=${CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG} -DBUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE=${BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE} ..
 
   # Build
   - make -j4
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 036a9f76bc5418472a5be96f8d0af6d3c1052c5a..c677bc1de701d543d72f178f1e1b14086796d02c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ IF(APPLE)
   endif("${isSystemDir}" STREQUAL "-1")
 ENDIF(APPLE)
 
-OPTION(BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE "Build the python bindings" ON)
+OPTION(BUILD_PYTHON_INTERFACE "Build the python bindings" OFF)
 
 # Tell CMake that we compute the PROJECT_VERSION manually.
 CMAKE_POLICY(SET CMP0048 OLD)