diff --git a/llvm/utils/release/test-release.sh b/llvm/utils/release/test-release.sh
--- a/llvm/utils/release/test-release.sh
+++ b/llvm/utils/release/test-release.sh
@@ -320,6 +320,12 @@
     tar -C $SrcDir --strip-components=1 -xzf -
 
   if [ "$do_test_suite" = "yes" ]; then
+    venv=virtualenv
+    if ! type -P 'virtualenv' > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+      check_program_exists 'python3'
+      venv="python3 -m venv"
+    fi
+
     TestSuiteSrcDir=$BuildDir/llvm-test-suite
     mkdir -p $TestSuiteSrcDir
 
@@ -500,7 +506,7 @@
   TestSuiteBuildDir="$BuildDir/test-suite-build"
   TestSuiteSrcDir="$BuildDir/llvm-test-suite"
 
-  virtualenv $SandboxDir
+  ${venv} $SandboxDir
   $SandboxDir/bin/python $BuildDir/llvm-project/llvm/utils/lit/setup.py install
   mkdir -p $TestSuiteBuildDir
 fi