diff --git a/bootstrap.py b/bootstrap.py
index 1b28969ae92a8927167c03a61f2450dd69498eb2..2ec152f662355e3288f20f1a80afcdd710cfdea5 100644
--- a/bootstrap.py
+++ b/bootstrap.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ Bootstraps a buildout-based project.
 Simply run this script in a directory containing a buildout.cfg, using the
 Python that you want bin/buildout to use.
 
-Note that by using --find-links to point to local resources, you can keep 
+Note that by using --find-links to point to local resources, you can keep
 this script from going over the network.
 '''
 
@@ -90,6 +90,19 @@ except ImportError:
         if path not in pkg_resources.working_set.entries:
             pkg_resources.working_set.add_entry(path)
 
+######################################################################
+# Try to best guess the version of buildout given setuptools
+if options.version is None:
+
+  try:
+    from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+    package = pkg_resources.require('setuptools')[0]
+    v = LooseVersion(package.version)
+    if v < LooseVersion('0.7'):
+      options.version = '2.1.1'
+  except:
+    pass
+
 ######################################################################
 # Install buildout