diff --git a/buildtests/runtests.py b/buildtests/runtests.py
index c1405c7..7e39a48 100755
--- a/buildtests/runtests.py
+++ b/buildtests/runtests.py
@@ -98,10 +98,12 @@ def runtests(alltests, filters=None, configfile=None, run_executable=1):
         tests = []
         for part in filters:
             tests += [t for t in alltests if part in t and t not in tests]
-    tests.sort(key=lambda x: (len(x), x)) # test1 < test10
+    
+    tests = [(len(x), x) for x in tests]
+    tests.sort()
     path = os.environ["PATH"]
     counter = dict(passed=[],failed=[])
-    for test in tests:
+    for _,test in tests:
         test = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(test))[0]
         _msg("BUILDING TEST", test)
         prog = string.join([PYTHON, PYOPTS, os.path.join(HOME, 'Build.py'),
@@ -144,8 +146,12 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     interactive_tests = glob.glob('test*i.spec')
 
     from optparse import OptionParser
-    parser = OptionParser(usage="%prog [options] [TEST-NAME ...]",
-                          epilog="TEST-NAME can be the name of the .py-file, the .spec-file or only the basename.")
+    if sys.version_info < (2,4):
+        parser = OptionParser(usage="%prog [options] [TEST-NAME ...]")
+    else:
+        parser = OptionParser(usage="%prog [options] [TEST-NAME ...]",
+                              epilog="TEST-NAME can be the name of the .py-file, the .spec-file or only the basename.")
+    
     parser.add_option('-c', '--clean', action='store_true',
                       help='Clean up generated files')
     parser.add_option('-i', '--interactive-tests', action='store_true',