diff --git a/fence-agents.spec b/fence-agents.spec
index 0ca8a94..91c0848 100644
--- a/fence-agents.spec
+++ b/fence-agents.spec
@@ -96,6 +96,11 @@ BuildRequires: python3-pexpect python3-pycurl python3-requests
 BuildRequires: python3-suds openwsman-python3 python3-boto3
 BuildRequires: python3-google-api-client
 
+# turn off the brp-python-bytecompile script
+# (for F28+ or equivalent, the latter is the preferred form)
+%global __os_install_post %(echo '%{__os_install_post}' | sed -e 's!/usr/lib[^[:space:]]*/brp-python-bytecompilespace:.*$!!g')
+#undefine __brp_python_bytecompile
+
 %prep
 %setup -q -n %{name}-%{version}
 %autopatch -p1
@@ -110,6 +115,9 @@ CFLAGS="$(echo '%{optflags}')" make %{_smp_mflags}
 %install
 rm -rf %{buildroot}
 make install DESTDIR=%{buildroot}
+# bytecompile Python source code in a non-standard location
+%py_byte_compile %{__python3} %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/fence
+# XXX unsure if /usr/sbin/fence_* should be compiled as well
 
 ## tree fix up
 # fix libfence permissions
@@ -135,8 +143,10 @@ Red Hat Fence Agents is a collection of scripts and libraries to handle remote p
 %files common
 %doc doc/COPYING.* doc/COPYRIGHT doc/README.licence
 %{_datadir}/fence
-%exclude %{_datadir}/fence/azure_fence.py
-%exclude %{_datadir}/fence/XenAPI.py
+%exclude %{_datadir}/fence/azure_fence.*
+%exclude %{_datadir}/fence/__pycache__/azure_fence.*
+%exclude %{_datadir}/fence/XenAPI.*
+%exclude %{_datadir}/fence/__pycache__/XenAPI.*
 %{_datadir}/cluster
 %exclude %{_datadir}/cluster/fence_scsi_check*
 %exclude %{_sbindir}/*
@@ -250,7 +260,8 @@ Obsoletes: fence-agents
 The fence-agents-azure-arm package contains a fence agent for Azure Resource Manager instances.
 %files azure-arm
 %{_sbindir}/fence_azure_arm
-%{_datadir}/fence/azure_fence.py
+%{_datadir}/fence/azure_fence.py*
+%{_datadir}/fence/__pycache__/azure_fence.*
 %{_mandir}/man8/fence_azure_arm.8*
 
 %package bladecenter
@@ -920,7 +931,8 @@ BuildArch: noarch
 The fence-agents-xenapi package contains a fence agent for Citrix XenServer accessed over XenAPI.
 %files xenapi
 %{_sbindir}/fence_xenapi
-%{_datadir}/fence/XenAPI.py
+%{_datadir}/fence/XenAPI.py*
+%{_datadir}/fence/__pycache__/XenAPI.*
 %{_mandir}/man8/fence_xenapi.8*
 %endif
 
@@ -941,6 +953,7 @@ The fence-agents-zvm package contains a fence agent for IBM z/VM over IP.
 #- move azure_fence.py and XenAPI.py to respective subpackages from -common
 #- sanitize allfenceagents internally defined enumeration
 #- sanitize BuildRequires with respect to packaging guidelines
+#- bytecompile native Python modules and ship these bytecodes properly
 
 * Fri Jul 13 2018 Fedora Release Engineering <releng@fedoraproject.org> - 4.2.1-3
 - Rebuilt for https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_29_Mass_Rebuild