return "";
 }
 
+sub get_sphinx_version($)
+{
+       my $cmd = shift;
+       my $ver;
+
+       open IN, "$cmd --version 2>&1 |";
+       while (<IN>) {
+               if (m/^\s*sphinx-build\s+([\d\.]+)(\+\/[\da-f]+)?$/) {
+                       $ver=$1;
+                       last;
+               }
+               # Sphinx 1.2.x uses a different format
+               if (m/^\s*Sphinx.*\s+([\d\.]+)$/) {
+                       $ver=$1;
+                       last;
+               }
+       }
+       close IN;
+       return $ver;
+}
+
 sub check_sphinx()
 {
        my $rec_version;
                return;
        }
 
-       open IN, "$sphinx --version 2>&1 |" or die "$sphinx returned an error";
-       while (<IN>) {
-               if (m/^\s*sphinx-build\s+([\d\.]+)(\+\/[\da-f]+)?$/) {
-                       $cur_version=$1;
-                       last;
-               }
-               # Sphinx 1.2.x uses a different format
-               if (m/^\s*Sphinx.*\s+([\d\.]+)$/) {
-                       $cur_version=$1;
-                       last;
-               }
-       }
-       close IN;
+       $cur_version = get_sphinx_version($sphinx);
+       die ("$sphinx returned an error") if (!$cur_version);
 
        die "$sphinx didn't return its version" if (!$cur_version);
 
                my @activates = glob "$ENV{'PWD'}/${virtenv_prefix}*/bin/activate";
 
                @activates = sort {$b cmp $a} @activates;
+               my ($activate, $ver);
+               foreach my $f (@activates) {
+                       $activate = $f;
+                       next if ($activate lt $min_activate);
+
+                       my $sphinx_cmd = $activate;
+                       $sphinx_cmd =~ s/activate/sphinx-build/;
+                       next if (! -f $sphinx_cmd);
 
-               if ($need_sphinx && scalar @activates > 0 && $activates[0] ge $min_activate) {
-                       printf "\nNeed to activate a compatible Sphinx version on virtualenv with:\n";
-                       printf "\t. $activates[0]\n";
+                       $ver = get_sphinx_version($sphinx_cmd);
+                       last if ($ver ge $min_version);
+               }
+               if ($need_sphinx && ($activate ne "")) {
+                       printf "\nNeed to activate Sphinx (version $ver) on virtualenv with:\n";
+                       printf "\t. $activate\n";
                        deactivate_help();
                        exit (1);
                } else {