diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cf2a7dcf6a..a5a37a1eec 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -437,6 +437,12 @@ ifneq ($(BR2_HAVE_DOCUMENTATION),y)
 	rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/doc $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/doc
 	rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/gtk-doc
 	-rmdir $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share 2>/dev/null
+endif
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_PY_ONLY),y)
+	find $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib/ -name '*.pyc' -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f
+endif
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_PYC_ONLY),y)
+	find $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib/ -name '*.py' -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f
 endif
 	find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -perm +111 '!' -name 'libthread_db*.so*' | \
 		xargs $(STRIPCMD) 2>/dev/null || true