diff --git a/package/merge_packages.py b/package/merge_packages.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index c05787c8d8f6c7a4e7e054a952d9808cb930bb82..53fbbd9b0a921d467f8c27b639199e42574031ce
--- a/package/merge_packages.py
+++ b/package/merge_packages.py
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ def pkgVersionNormalized(versionString):
     verParts = re.split('\.|-rc', verStr, flags=re.IGNORECASE)
     
     if len(verParts) == 3:
-        verStr = str(versionString) + '-rc' + str(sys.maxint)
+        if (sys.version_info > (3, 0)): # Python 3
+            verStr = str(versionString) + '-rc' + str(sys.maxsize)
+        else: # Python 2
+            verStr = str(versionString) + '-rc' + str(sys.maxint)
+        
     elif len(verParts) != 4:
         print("pkgVersionNormalized WARNING: unexpected version format: {0})".format(verStr), file=sys.stderr)