diff --git a/install_spack_env.sh b/install_spack_env.sh
index 00610db77321a3c4f96ec29b209bc9170927e594..4f5dcec677d1422932f020a2907a0791121fd9e4 100644
--- a/install_spack_env.sh
+++ b/install_spack_env.sh
@@ -23,12 +23,14 @@ then
   git clone --depth 1 -c advice.detachedHead=false -c feature.manyFiles=true --branch $SPACK_VERSION https://github.com/spack/spack $INSTALLATION_ROOT/spack
   cp $EBRAINS_REPO/packages.yaml $INSTALLATION_ROOT/spack/etc/spack/packages.yaml
   source $INSTALLATION_ROOT/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
-  # install platform compiler and python
+  # install platform compiler and python (extract versions from packages.yaml)
+  EBRAINS_SPACK_COMPILER=$(grep 'compiler' $EBRAINS_REPO/packages.yaml | awk -F'[][]' '{ print $2 }')
+  EBRAINS_SPACK_PYTHON=python@$(grep -A1 'python' $EBRAINS_REPO/packages.yaml | tail -n1 | awk -F'[][]' '{ print $2 }')
   spack compiler find
-  spack install gcc@10.3.0
-  spack load gcc@10.3.0
+  spack install $EBRAINS_SPACK_COMPILER
+  spack load $EBRAINS_SPACK_COMPILER
   spack compiler find
-  spack install python@3.8.11 %gcc@10.3.0
+  spack install $EBRAINS_SPACK_PYTHON %$EBRAINS_SPACK_COMPILER
 else
   source $INSTALLATION_ROOT/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
 fi