diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index cf3c743..6beee8c 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@
 import os
 # init Scons
 EnsureSConsVersion(0,96)
+EnsurePythonVersion(2,2)
+
+# set defaults
 PREFIX='/usr/local'
 PACKAGE='fsp'
 VERSION='2.8.1b25'
-EFENCE=0
+EFENCE=False
 
 env = Environment(CPPPATH='#/include', LIBPATH=['/usr/lib','/usr/local/lib'])
 # Turn CPPFLAGS to list
@@ -55,21 +58,6 @@ void dummy(void) {}
    conf.Result(rc)
    return rc
 
-# check for maintainer mode
-def checkForMaintainerMode(conf):
-    global EFENCE
-    conf.Message("checking whether to enable maintainer mode... ")
-    if ARGUMENTS.get('maintainer-mode', 0) or \
-       ARGUMENTS.get('enable-maintainer-mode', 0):
-			  conf.Result(1)
-			  conf.env.Append(CCFLAGS = '-O0')
-			  conf.env.Append(CPPFLAGS = '-DMAINTAINER_MODE')
-			  EFENCE=1
-    else:
-			  conf.Result(0)
-			  conf.env.Append(CCFLAGS = '-O')
-			  EFENCE=0
-
 # check for user-supplied lock prefix
 def checkForLockPrefix(conf):
     conf.Message("checking for user supplied lockprefix... ")
@@ -124,6 +112,9 @@ main ()
     return rc
 
 ############  Start configuration ##############
+
+from maintainer import checkForMaintainerMode
+
 conf = Configure(env,{'checkForGCCOption':checkForGCCOption,
                       'MAINTAINER_MODE':checkForMaintainerMode,
 		      'checkForLockPrefix':checkForLockPrefix,
@@ -199,8 +190,8 @@ else:
 conf.checkForLockPrefix()
 conf.checkPrefix()
 conf.env.Append(CPPFLAGS = '-DSYSCONFDIR=\\"'+PREFIX+'/etc\\"')
-conf.MAINTAINER_MODE()
-if EFENCE == 1:
+EFENCE = conf.MAINTAINER_MODE()
+if EFENCE == True:
     EFENCE=conf.CheckLib("efence","EF_Abort")
 conf.Finish()
 
diff --git a/site_scons/maintainer.py b/site_scons/maintainer.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89ad031
--- /dev/null
+++ b/site_scons/maintainer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#
+# SCons check for maintainer mode
+#
+# Version 1.1
+# 24-Jul-2009
+#
+
+from SCons.Script import ARGUMENTS
+
+def checkForMaintainerMode(conf):
+    """Check if user wants to enable maintainer compilation mode."""
+    conf.Message("checking whether to enable maintainer mode... ")
+    if ARGUMENTS.get('maintainer-mode', 0) or \
+       ARGUMENTS.get('enable-maintainer-mode', 0):
+			  conf.Result(1)
+			  conf.env.Append(CCFLAGS = '-O0')
+			  conf.env.Append(CPPFLAGS = '-DMAINTAINER_MODE')
+                          return True
+    else:
+			  conf.Result(0)
+                          return False