diff --git a/.dir-locals.el b/.dir-locals.el
index d7ec8792..970199b4 100644
--- a/.dir-locals.el
+++ b/.dir-locals.el
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 ;; Alternatively create the virtualenv, source it and install jedi + epc
 ;; (required by `emacs-jedi <https://tkf.github.io/emacs-jedi>`_)::
 ;;
-;;     $ virtualenv --python=python3  "--no-site-packages" ./local/py3
+;;     $ python -m venv ./local/py3
 ;;     ...
 ;;     $ source ./local/py3/bin/activate
 ;;     (py3)$ # now install into the activated 'py3' environment ..
diff --git a/utils/lib.sh b/utils/lib.sh
index aa49da5b..0d93138c 100755
--- a/utils/lib.sh
+++ b/utils/lib.sh
@@ -1399,16 +1399,16 @@ EOF
 }
 
 # apt packages
-LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_debian="bash git build-essential python3 virtualenv"
+LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_debian="bash git build-essential python3 python3-venv"
 
 # pacman packages
-LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_arch="bash git base-devel python python-virtualenv"
+LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_arch="bash git base-devel python"
 
 # dnf packages
-LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_fedora="bash git @development-tools python virtualenv"
+LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_fedora="bash git @development-tools python"
 
 # yum packages
-LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_centos="bash git @development-tools python python-virtualenv"
+LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_centos="bash git python3"
 
 case $DIST_ID in
     ubuntu|debian) LXC_BASE_PACKAGES="${LXC_BASE_PACKAGES_debian}" ;;
@@ -1420,6 +1420,9 @@ esac
 
 lxc_install_base_packages() {
     info_msg "install LXC_BASE_PACKAGES in container $1"
+    case $DIST_ID in
+        centos) yum groupinstall "Development Tools" -y  ;;
+    esac
     pkg_install "${LXC_BASE_PACKAGES}"
 }
 
diff --git a/utils/makefile.python b/utils/makefile.python
index 668b0894..12e3e123 100644
--- a/utils/makefile.python
+++ b/utils/makefile.python
@@ -41,19 +41,6 @@ ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
 endif
 
 VTENV_OPTS ?=
-ifeq ($(PYTHON),python)
-  VIRTUALENV   = virtualenv
-else
-  VIRTUALENV   = virtualenv --python=$(PYTHON)
-endif
-
-ifeq ($(KBUILD_VERBOSE),1)
-  PIP_VERBOSE =
-  VIRTUALENV_VERBOSE =
-else
-  PIP_VERBOSE = "-q"
-  VIRTUALENV_VERBOSE = "-q"
-endif
 
 python-help::
 	@echo  'makefile.python:'
@@ -125,7 +112,7 @@ quiet_cmd_pyenvuninstall = PYENV     uninstall   $2
 quiet_cmd_virtualenv  = PYENV     usage: $ source ./$@/bin/activate
       cmd_virtualenv  = \
 	if [ ! -d "./$(PY_ENV)" ];then                                  \
-		$(VIRTUALENV) $(VIRTUALENV_VERBOSE) $(VTENV_OPTS) $2;   \
+		$(PYTHON) -m venv $(VTENV_OPTS) $2;                     \
 	else                                                            \
 		echo "PYENV     using virtualenv from $2";              \
         fi
diff --git a/utils/searx.sh b/utils/searx.sh
index 06b3c2df..5a24a016 100755
--- a/utils/searx.sh
+++ b/utils/searx.sh
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ SEARX_UWSGI_SOCKET="/run/uwsgi/app/searx/socket"
 
 # apt packages
 SEARX_PACKAGES_debian="\
-virtualenv python3-dev python3-babel python3-venv
+python3-dev python3-babel python3-venv
 uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python3
 git build-essential libxslt-dev zlib1g-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev
 shellcheck"
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ latexmk"
 
 # pacman packages
 SEARX_PACKAGES_arch="\
-python-virtualenv python python-pip python-lxml python-babel
+python python-pip python-lxml python-babel
 uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python
 git base-devel libxml2
 shellcheck"
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ texlive-core texlive-latexextra ttf-dejavu"
 
 # dnf packages
 SEARX_PACKAGES_fedora="\
-virtualenv python python-pip python-lxml python-babel
+python python-pip python-lxml python-babel
 uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python3
 git @development-tools libxml2
 ShellCheck"
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ dejavu-sans-mono-fonts"
 
 # yum packages
 SEARX_PACKAGES_centos="\
-python36-virtualenv python36 python36-pip python36-lxml python-babel
+python36 python36-pip python36-lxml python-babel
 uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python3
 git @development-tools libxml2
 ShellCheck"