diff --git a/CLI/klish/Makefile b/CLI/klish/Makefile
index c0fe1a89a..0a9f24721 100644
--- a/CLI/klish/Makefile
+++ b/CLI/klish/Makefile
@@ -3,10 +3,16 @@ SHELL = /bin/bash
 .SHELLFLAGS += -e
 
 KLISH_VERSION = 2.1.4
-PYTHONVER=3.7
 
 KLISH_SRC = $(SONIC_CLI_ROOT)/klish-$(KLISH_VERSION)
 
+# Python changed how to link against Python for embedding purposes in 3.8
+# which means that in order to support both Debian 10 and Debian >=11
+# we need to try two alternatives.
+CFLAGS_PYTHON := $(shell pkg-config --silence-errors --cflags python3-embed || pkg-config --cflags python3)
+LDFLAGS_PYTHON := $(shell pkg-config --silence-errors --libs python3-embed || pkg-config --libs python3)
+LDFLAGS_CURL := $(shell pkg-config --libs libcurl)
+
 ifeq ($(CROSS_BUILD_ENVIRON),y)
 	CROSS_CONFIGURE_OPTS = --host=$(CROSS_HOST_TYPE)
 	LIB_PATH = $(CROSS_PKGS_LIB_PATH)
@@ -19,7 +25,16 @@ all : $(SRC_REPLACEMENTS)
 	tar xzvf klish-$(KLISH_VERSION).tgz -C $(SONIC_CLI_ROOT)
 	./patches/scripts/patchmake.sh -p VER=${KLISH_VERSION} TSP=${SONIC_CLI_ROOT} DSP=${CURDIR}/patches TWP=${SONIC_CLI_ROOT}
 
-	cd ${KLISH_SRC} && sh autogen.sh && ./configure --with-libxml2=/usr $(CROSS_CONFIGURE_OPTS) --enable-debug=no LIBS='-l:libcurl-gnutls.so.4 -L$(LIB_PATH) -lpython3.7m -Wl,-rpath=$(LIB_PATH) -lcjson' CFLAGS='${CFLAGS} -g -I/usr/include/python3.7m' CPPFLAGS='${CPPFLAGS} -I/usr/include/cjson' && make
+	cd ${KLISH_SRC} && \
+		sh autogen.sh && \
+		./configure \
+			--with-libxml2=/usr \
+			$(CROSS_CONFIGURE_OPTS) \
+			--enable-debug=no \
+			LIBS='$(LDFLAGS_CURL) -L$(LIB_PATH) $(LDFLAGS_PYTHON) -Wl,-rpath=$(LIB_PATH) -lcjson' \
+			CFLAGS='${CFLAGS} -g $(CFLAGS_PYTHON)' \
+			CPPFLAGS='${CPPFLAGS} -I/usr/include/cjson' && \
+		make
 
 	mkdir -p $(SONIC_CLI_ROOT)/target/.libs
 	cp $(CURDIR)/clish_start $(SONIC_CLI_ROOT)/target/.
diff --git a/tools/test/apt_requirements.txt b/tools/test/apt_requirements.txt
index f374b63a6..fe099bee0 100644
--- a/tools/test/apt_requirements.txt
+++ b/tools/test/apt_requirements.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-libcurl3-gnutls
+libcurl4-openssl-dev
 libcjson-dev
diff --git a/tools/test/cli.sh b/tools/test/cli.sh
index b1be3e216..71d7f4cf6 100755
--- a/tools/test/cli.sh
+++ b/tools/test/cli.sh
@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ export SHOW_CONFIG_TOOLS=$CLIBUILD/render-templates
 #export CLISH_PATH=$CLISOURCE/clitree/cli-xml
 export CLISH_PATH=$CLIBUILD/command-tree
 
-export PYTHONVER=3.7
-
 # KLISH_BIN can be set to use klish exe and libs from other directory.
 if [[ -z ${KLISH_BIN} ]]; then
     if [[ -f ${CLIBUILD}/clish ]]; then