diff --git a/src/borg/archiver.py b/src/borg/archiver.py
index a0f497a7e..53e0bbf36 100644
--- a/src/borg/archiver.py
+++ b/src/borg/archiver.py
@@ -4322,8 +4322,10 @@ def parse_args(self, args=None):
             parser.error('Need at least one PATH argument.')
         return args
 
-    def prerun_checks(self, logger):
-        check_python()
+    def prerun_checks(self, logger, is_serve):
+        if not is_serve:
+            # this is the borg *client*, we need to check the python:
+            check_python()
         check_extension_modules()
         selftest(logger)
 
@@ -4362,7 +4364,7 @@ def run(self, args):
         self._setup_topic_debugging(args)
         if args.show_version:
             logging.getLogger('borg.output.show-version').info('borgbackup version %s' % __version__)
-        self.prerun_checks(logger)
+        self.prerun_checks(logger, is_serve)
         if not is_supported_msgpack():
             logger.error("You do not have a supported msgpack[-python] version installed. Terminating.")
             logger.error("This should never happen as specific, supported versions are required by our setup.py.")