CMake error building with Python libraries

Problem

I got this error from CMake when building a project that needs to link with Python 3.4 libraries:

-- Found PythonInterp: /usr/bin/python3 (found suitable version "3.4.3", minimum required is "3.0")
-- Could NOT find PythonLibs (missing:  PYTHON_LIBRARIES PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIRS) (Required is at least version "3.0")

Solution

Turns out that the CMake available on my system only supported finding Python 3 packages upto version 3.3. To change it to support Python 3.4 was possible by editing two files:

• In file /usr/share/cmake-3.4/Modules/FindPythonInterp.cmake find the line containing _PYTHON3_VERSIONS and prepend 3.4 to the versions already listed there.

• In file /usr/share/cmake-3.4/Modules/FindPythonLibs.cmake find the line containing _PYTHON3_VERSIONS and prepend 3.4 to the versions already listed there.

I was able to build with Python 3.x libraries after that.