diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2784920f1..cde194a02 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ endif(NOT CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE)
 # --------------------------------------------------------------
 # Top level OpenCV project
 # --------------------------------------------------------------
-if(NOT IOS)
-  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6.3)
+if(CMAKE_GENERATOR MATCHES Xcode AND XCODE_VERSION VERSION_GREATER 4.3)
+  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.8)
+elseif(IOS)
+  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.0)
 else()
-  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
+  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6.3)
 endif()
 
 set(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES "Debug;Release" CACHE STRING "Configs" FORCE)
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ if(DEFINED CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE AND CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_GREATER "2.8")
   set_property( CACHE CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE PROPERTY STRINGS ${CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES} )
 endif()
 
-project(OpenCV)
+project(OpenCV CXX C)
 
 include(cmake/OpenCVUtils.cmake REQUIRED)
 
@@ -780,7 +782,11 @@ else()
   status("    PNG:"        "NO")
 endif()
 if(WITH_TIFF)
-  status("    TIFF:"       TIFF_FOUND    THEN "${TIFF_LIBRARY} (ver ${TIFF_VERSION})"            ELSE "build (ver ${TIFF_VERSION})")
+  if(TIFF_VERSION_STRING AND TIFF_FOUND)
+    status("    TIFF:"     "${TIFF_LIBRARY} (ver ${TIFF_VERSION} - ${TIFF_VERSION_STRING})")
+  else()
+    status("    TIFF:"     TIFF_FOUND    THEN "${TIFF_LIBRARY} (ver ${TIFF_VERSION})"            ELSE "build (ver ${TIFF_VERSION})")
+  endif()
 else()
   status("    TIFF:"       "NO")
 endif()
@@ -885,7 +891,11 @@ status("")
 status("  Python:")
 status("    Interpreter:"   PYTHON_EXECUTABLE     THEN "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} (ver ${PYTHON_VERSION_FULL})"         ELSE NO)
 if(BUILD_opencv_python)
-  status("    Libraries:"     HAVE_opencv_python  THEN  ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES}                                        ELSE NO)
+  if(PYTHONLIBS_VERSION_STRING)
+    status("    Libraries:"     HAVE_opencv_python  THEN  "${PYTHON_LIBRARIES} (ver ${PYTHONLIBS_VERSION_STRING})" ELSE NO)
+  else()
+    status("    Libraries:"     HAVE_opencv_python  THEN  ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES}                                      ELSE NO)
+  endif()
   status("    numpy:"         PYTHON_USE_NUMPY    THEN "${PYTHON_NUMPY_INCLUDE_DIR} (ver ${PYTHON_NUMPY_VERSION})" ELSE "NO (Python wrappers can not be generated)")
   status("    packages path:" PYTHON_EXECUTABLE   THEN "${PYTHON_PACKAGES_PATH}"                                   ELSE "-")
 endif()
diff --git a/cmake/OpenCVDetectPython.cmake b/cmake/OpenCVDetectPython.cmake
index 0b6f6005c..9b8b826f9 100644
--- a/cmake/OpenCVDetectPython.cmake
+++ b/cmake/OpenCVDetectPython.cmake
@@ -1,35 +1,44 @@
 if(MSVC AND NOT PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
   # search for executable with the same bitness as resulting binaries
   # standard FindPythonInterp always prefers executable from system path
-  foreach(_CURRENT_VERSION ${Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS} 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.6 1.5)
+  # this is really important because we are using the interpreter for numpy search and for choosing the install location
+  foreach(_CURRENT_VERSION ${Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS} 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0)
     find_host_program(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE
       NAMES python${_CURRENT_VERSION} python
-      PATHS [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\\\SOFTWARE\\\\Python\\\\PythonCore\\\\${_CURRENT_VERSION}\\\\InstallPath]
+      PATHS
+        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\\\SOFTWARE\\\\Python\\\\PythonCore\\\\${_CURRENT_VERSION}\\\\InstallPath]
+        [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\\\SOFTWARE\\\\Python\\\\PythonCore\\\\${_CURRENT_VERSION}\\\\InstallPath]
       NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH
     )
   endforeach()
 endif()
-find_host_package(PythonInterp)
+
+find_host_package(PythonInterp 2.0)
 
 unset(PYTHON_USE_NUMPY CACHE)
 unset(HAVE_SPHINX CACHE)
 
 if(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
+  if(PYTHON_VERSION_STRING)
+    set(PYTHON_VERSION_FULL "${PYTHON_VERSION_STRING}")
+    set(PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR "${PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR}")
+  else()
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} --version
+      ERROR_VARIABLE PYTHON_VERSION_FULL
+      ERROR_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+    string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+.[0-9]+" PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR "${PYTHON_VERSION_FULL}")
+    string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+" PYTHON_VERSION_FULL "${PYTHON_VERSION_FULL}")
+  endif()
+  
   if(NOT ANDROID AND NOT IOS)
-    find_host_package(PythonLibs)
+    find_host_package(PythonLibs ${PYTHON_VERSION_FULL})
     # cmake 2.4 (at least on Ubuntu 8.04 (hardy)) don't define PYTHONLIBS_FOUND
     if(NOT PYTHONLIBS_FOUND AND PYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH)
       set(PYTHONLIBS_FOUND ON)
     endif()
   endif()
 
-  execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} --version
-    ERROR_VARIABLE PYTHON_VERSION_FULL
-    ERROR_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
-
-  string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+.[0-9]+" PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR "${PYTHON_VERSION_FULL}")
-  string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+" PYTHON_VERSION_FULL "${PYTHON_VERSION_FULL}")
-
   if(NOT ANDROID AND NOT IOS)
     if(CMAKE_HOST_UNIX)
       execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import *; print get_python_lib()"
@@ -53,6 +62,9 @@ if(PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
       if(NOT EXISTS "${PYTHON_PATH}/Lib/site-packages")
         unset(PYTHON_PATH)
         get_filename_component(PYTHON_PATH "[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Python\\PythonCore\\${PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR}\\InstallPath]" ABSOLUTE)
+        if(NOT PYTHON_PATH)
+           get_filename_component(PYTHON_PATH "[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Python\\PythonCore\\${PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR}\\InstallPath]" ABSOLUTE)
+        endif()
         file(TO_CMAKE_PATH "${PYTHON_PATH}" PYTHON_PATH)
       endif()
       set(PYTHON_PACKAGES_PATH "${PYTHON_PATH}/Lib/site-packages")
diff --git a/cmake/OpenCVIOLibs.cmake b/cmake/OpenCVIOLibs.cmake
index 223b0c6c0..621d00e52 100644
--- a/cmake/OpenCVIOLibs.cmake
+++ b/cmake/OpenCVIOLibs.cmake
@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@ if(WITH_JASPER AND NOT JASPER_FOUND)
   set(JASPER_INCLUDE_DIR "${${JASPER_LIBRARY}_SOURCE_DIR}")
 endif()
 
-ocv_parse_header2(JASPER "${JASPER_INCLUDE_DIR}/jasper/jas_config.h" JAS_VERSION "")
+if(NOT JASPER_VERSION_STRING)
+  ocv_parse_header2(JASPER "${JASPER_INCLUDE_DIR}/jasper/jas_config.h" JAS_VERSION "")
+endif()
 
 ################### libpng - optional (should be searched after zlib)
 if(WITH_PNG)
diff --git a/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 0bfd71f9e..461ebca03 100644
--- a/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -60,7 +60,12 @@ add_custom_command(
    DEPENDS ${opencv_hdrs})
 
 add_library(${the_module} SHARED src2/cv2.cpp ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/generated0.i ${cv2_generated_hdrs} src2/cv2.cv.hpp)
-target_link_libraries(${the_module} ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES} ${OPENCV_MODULE_${the_module}_DEPS})
+if(PYTHON_DEBUG_LIBRARIES)
+  target_link_libraries(${the_module} debug ${PYTHON_DEBUG_LIBRARIES} optimized ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES})
+else()
+  target_link_libraries(${the_module} ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES})
+endif()
+target_link_libraries(${the_module} ${OPENCV_MODULE_${the_module}_DEPS})
 
 execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c "import distutils.sysconfig; print distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var('SO')"
                 RESULT_VARIABLE PYTHON_CVPY_PROCESS
@@ -87,7 +92,7 @@ if(MSVC AND NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
   set_target_properties(${the_module} PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "/NODEFAULTLIB:atlthunk.lib /NODEFAULTLIB:atlsd.lib /DEBUG")
 endif()
 
-if(MSVC)
+if(MSVC AND NOT PYTHON_DEBUG_LIBRARIES)
   set(PYTHON_INSTALL_CONFIGURATIONS CONFIGURATIONS Release)
 else()
   set(PYTHON_INSTALL_CONFIGURATIONS "")