diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 7d8a703..bb57813 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ py3_env_pkgs_state: present
 py3_pip_pkgs_state: present
 py3_env_site: False
 
+py3_env_dpkg: []
+py3_el_env_pkg: []
 py3_env_wheel_pip_pkgs: []
 py3_env_pip_pkgs: []
 py3_env_versioned_pip_pkgs: []
diff --git a/tasks/py3_deb.yml b/tasks/py3_deb.yml
index 0881c0e..279afcd 100644
--- a/tasks/py3_deb.yml
+++ b/tasks/py3_deb.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@
   tags: [ "python", "py3_env", "py3_env_pkgs", 'python3' ]
 
 - block:
-  - name: Install the python3 deb packages
+  - name: Install the python3 mandatory deb packages
+    apt: name={{ py3_env_mandatory_dpkg }} state={{ py3_env_pkgs_state }} update_cache=yes cache_valid_time=600
+
+  - name: Install the python3 additional deb packages
     apt: name={{ py3_env_dpkg }} state={{ py3_env_pkgs_state }} update_cache=yes cache_valid_time=600
 
   - name: Install python3-pip deb packages
diff --git a/tasks/py3_el.yml b/tasks/py3_el.yml
index a467839..877120d 100644
--- a/tasks/py3_el.yml
+++ b/tasks/py3_el.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 ---
 - block:
-  - name: Install the python3 EL packages
+  - name: Install the python3 EL mandatory packages
+    yum: name={{ py3_el_env_mandatory_pkg }} state={{ py3_env_pkgs_state }}
+
+  - name: Install the python3 EL additional packages
     yum: name={{ py3_el_env_pkg }} state={{ py3_env_pkgs_state }}
 
   - name: Ensure that we have the latest pip, setuptools and wheel versions
diff --git a/vars/main.yml b/vars/main.yml
index c5152d5..2d15513 100644
--- a/vars/main.yml
+++ b/vars/main.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 py3_ppa: 'ppa:deadsnakes/ppa'
 
-py3_env_dpkg:
+py3_env_mandatory_dpkg:
   - 'python{{ py3_env_version }}'
   - 'python{{ py3_env_version }}-venv'
   - 'python{{ py3_env_version }}-dev'
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ py3_env_pip_default_pkgs:
   - 'wheel'
 
 py3_el_env_version: '{{ py3_env_major_version }}{{py3_env_minor_version }}'
-py3_el_env_pkg:
+py3_el_env_mandatory_pkg:
   - 'python{{ py3_env_major_version }}'
   - 'python{{ py3_env_major_version }}-pip'
   - 'python{{ py3_env_major_version }}-setuptools'