diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 291158a..2a30f4e 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ matrix:
       env: TOXENV=flake8
     - python: 3.6
       env: TOXENV=py3flake8
+    - python: 2.6
+      env: TOXENV=py26
     - python: 2.7
       env: TOXENV=py27
     - python: 3.4
diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 738958e..e522d8f 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 pytest
 pytest-cov
-sphinx>=1.1
\ No newline at end of file
+# Pin an older version of sphinx for Python-2.6 compat.  We could also drop building of hte sphinx
+# docs in this branch (People can either use the raw rst or build docs on a more recent Python)
+sphinx>=1.1,<1.5
diff --git a/distro.py b/distro.py
index 3306163..2df122c 100755
--- a/distro.py
+++ b/distro.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 import json
 import shlex
 import logging
-import argparse
+import optparse
 import subprocess
 
 
@@ -94,6 +94,56 @@
 )
 
 
+#
+# Python 2.6 does not have subprocess.check_output so replicate it here
+#
+def _my_check_output(*popenargs, **kwargs):
+    r"""Run command with arguments and return its output as a byte string.
+
+    If the exit code was non-zero it raises a CalledProcessError.  The
+    CalledProcessError object will have the return code in the returncode
+    attribute and output in the output attribute.
+
+    The arguments are the same as for the Popen constructor.  Example:
+
+    >>> check_output(["ls", "-l", "/dev/null"])
+    'crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 3 Oct 18  2007 /dev/null\n'
+
+    The stdout argument is not allowed as it is used internally.
+    To capture standard error in the result, use stderr=STDOUT.
+
+    >>> check_output(["/bin/sh", "-c",
+    ...               "ls -l non_existent_file ; exit 0"],
+    ...              stderr=STDOUT)
+    'ls: non_existent_file: No such file or directory\n'
+
+    This is a backport of Python-2.7's check output to Python-2.6
+    """
+    if 'stdout' in kwargs:
+        raise ValueError(
+            'stdout argument not allowed, it will be overridden.'
+        )
+    process = subprocess.Popen(
+        stdout=subprocess.PIPE, *popenargs, **kwargs
+    )
+    output, unused_err = process.communicate()
+    retcode = process.poll()
+    if retcode:
+        cmd = kwargs.get("args")
+        if cmd is None:
+            cmd = popenargs[0]
+        # Deviation from Python-2.7: Python-2.6's CalledProcessError does not
+        # have an argument for the stdout so simply omit it.
+        raise subprocess.CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
+    return output
+
+
+try:
+    _check_output = subprocess.check_output
+except AttributeError:
+    _check_output = _my_check_output
+
+
 def linux_distribution(full_distribution_name=True):
     """
     Return information about the current OS distribution as a tuple
@@ -548,7 +598,7 @@ def __init__(self, f):
         self._f = f
 
     def __get__(self, obj, owner):
-        assert obj is not None, 'call {} on an instance'.format(self._fname)
+        assert obj is not None, 'call {0} on an instance'.format(self._fname)
         ret = obj.__dict__[self._fname] = self._f(obj)
         return ret
 
@@ -1009,7 +1059,7 @@ def _lsb_release_info(self):
         with open(os.devnull, 'w') as devnull:
             try:
                 cmd = ('lsb_release', '-a')
-                stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=devnull)
+                stdout = _check_output(cmd, stderr=devnull)
             except OSError:  # Command not found
                 return {}
         content = stdout.decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()).splitlines()
@@ -1044,7 +1094,7 @@ def _uname_info(self):
         with open(os.devnull, 'w') as devnull:
             try:
                 cmd = ('uname', '-rs')
-                stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=devnull)
+                stdout = _check_output(cmd, stderr=devnull)
             except OSError:
                 return {}
         content = stdout.decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()).splitlines()
@@ -1194,13 +1244,13 @@ def main():
     logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
     logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
 
-    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="OS distro info tool")
-    parser.add_argument(
+    parser = optparse.OptionParser(description="OS distro info tool")
+    parser.add_option(
         '--json',
         '-j',
         help="Output in machine readable format",
         action="store_true")
-    args = parser.parse_args()
+    args, opts = parser.parse_args()
 
     if args.json:
         logger.info(json.dumps(info(), indent=4, sort_keys=True))
diff --git a/tests/test_distro.py b/tests/test_distro.py
index 5521068..5006c2d 100644
--- a/tests/test_distro.py
+++ b/tests/test_distro.py
@@ -2060,3 +2060,17 @@ def test_repr(self):
         assert "LinuxDistribution" in repr_str
         for attr in MODULE_DISTRO.__dict__.keys():
             assert attr + '=' in repr_str
+
+
+#
+# For testing 2.6 compat code
+#
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not IS_LINUX, reason='Irrelevant on non-linux')
+class TestCheckOutput:
+    def test_stdout_disallowed(self):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError) as exc_info:
+            distro._my_check_output(['echo', 'hello'], stdout=None)
+
+        assert exc_info.value.args[0] == 'stdout argument not allowed,' \
+            ' it will be overridden.'