diff --git a/Dockerfile-bionic.template b/Dockerfile-bionic.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f2825e3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile-bionic.template
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+FROM buildpack-deps:%%PLACEHOLDER%%
+
+# ensure local python is preferred over distribution python
+ENV PATH /usr/local/bin:$PATH
+
+# http://bugs.python.org/issue19846
+# > At the moment, setting "LANG=C" on a Linux system *fundamentally breaks Python 3*, and that's not OK.
+ENV LANG C.UTF-8
+
+# extra dependencies (over what buildpack-deps already includes)
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+		libbluetooth-dev \
+		tk-dev \
+		uuid-dev \
+	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+ENV GPG_KEY %%PLACEHOLDER%%
+ENV PYTHON_VERSION %%PLACEHOLDER%%
+
+RUN set -ex \
+	\
+	&& wget -O python.tar.xz "https://www.python.org/ftp/python/${PYTHON_VERSION%%[a-z]*}/Python-$PYTHON_VERSION.tar.xz" \
+	&& wget -O python.tar.xz.asc "https://www.python.org/ftp/python/${PYTHON_VERSION%%[a-z]*}/Python-$PYTHON_VERSION.tar.xz.asc" \
+	&& export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)" \
+	# IPv6 workaround, fixed in Debian but not Ubuntu \
+  && echo "disable-ipv6" >> "$GNUPGHOME/dirmngr.conf" \
+	&& gpg --batch --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys "$GPG_KEY" \
+	&& gpg --batch --verify python.tar.xz.asc python.tar.xz \
+	&& { command -v gpgconf > /dev/null && gpgconf --kill all || :; } \
+	&& rm -rf "$GNUPGHOME" python.tar.xz.asc \
+	&& mkdir -p /usr/src/python \
+	&& tar -xJC /usr/src/python --strip-components=1 -f python.tar.xz \
+	&& rm python.tar.xz \
+	\
+	&& cd /usr/src/python \
+	&& gnuArch="$(dpkg-architecture --query DEB_BUILD_GNU_TYPE)" \
+	&& ./configure \
+		--build="$gnuArch" \
+		--enable-loadable-sqlite-extensions \
+		--enable-optimizations \
+		--enable-option-checking=fatal \
+		--enable-shared \
+		--with-system-expat \
+		--with-system-ffi \
+		--without-ensurepip \
+	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# setting PROFILE_TASK makes "--enable-optimizations" reasonable: https://bugs.python.org/issue36044 / https://github.com/docker-library/python/issues/160#issuecomment-509426916
+		PROFILE_TASK='-m test.regrtest --pgo \
+			test_array \
+			test_base64 \
+			test_binascii \
+			test_binhex \
+			test_binop \
+			test_bytes \
+			test_c_locale_coercion \
+			test_class \
+			test_cmath \
+			test_codecs \
+			test_compile \
+			test_complex \
+			test_csv \
+			test_decimal \
+			test_dict \
+			test_float \
+			test_fstring \
+			test_hashlib \
+			test_io \
+			test_iter \
+			test_json \
+			test_long \
+			test_math \
+			test_memoryview \
+			test_pickle \
+			test_re \
+			test_set \
+			test_slice \
+			test_struct \
+			test_threading \
+			test_time \
+			test_traceback \
+			test_unicode \
+		' \
+	&& make install \
+	&& rm -rf /usr/src/python \
+	\
+	&& find /usr/local -depth \
+		\( \
+			\( -type d -a \( -name test -o -name tests -o -name idle_test \) \) \
+			-o \( -type f -a \( -name '*.pyc' -o -name '*.pyo' -o -name '*.a' \) \) \
+			-o \( -type f -a -name 'wininst-*.exe' \) \
+		\) -exec rm -rf '{}' + \
+	\
+	&& ldconfig \
+	\
+	&& python3 --version
+
+# make some useful symlinks that are expected to exist
+RUN cd /usr/local/bin \
+	&& ln -s idle3 idle \
+	&& ln -s pydoc3 pydoc \
+	&& ln -s python3 python \
+	&& ln -s python3-config python-config
+
+# if this is called "PIP_VERSION", pip explodes with "ValueError: invalid truth value '<VERSION>'"
+ENV PYTHON_PIP_VERSION %%PLACEHOLDER%%
+# https://github.com/pypa/get-pip
+ENV PYTHON_GET_PIP_URL %%PLACEHOLDER%%
+ENV PYTHON_GET_PIP_SHA256 %%PLACEHOLDER%%
+
+RUN set -ex; \
+	\
+	wget -O get-pip.py "$PYTHON_GET_PIP_URL"; \
+	echo "$PYTHON_GET_PIP_SHA256 *get-pip.py" | sha256sum --check --strict -; \
+	\
+	python get-pip.py \
+		--disable-pip-version-check \
+		--no-cache-dir \
+		"pip==$PYTHON_PIP_VERSION" \
+	; \
+	pip --version; \
+	\
+	find /usr/local -depth \
+		\( \
+			\( -type d -a \( -name test -o -name tests -o -name idle_test \) \) \
+			-o \
+			\( -type f -a \( -name '*.pyc' -o -name '*.pyo' \) \) \
+		\) -exec rm -rf '{}' +; \
+	rm -f get-pip.py
+
+CMD ["python3"]
diff --git a/generate-stackbrew-library.sh b/generate-stackbrew-library.sh
index 23baae709..8954e43c7 100755
--- a/generate-stackbrew-library.sh
+++ b/generate-stackbrew-library.sh
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
 	rcVersion="${version%-rc}"
 
 	for v in \
+		buster \
 		{buster,stretch}{,/slim} \
 		alpine{3.13,3.12} \
 		windows/windowsservercore-{1809,ltsc2016} \
diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index 190219dcb..937451f42 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
 	echo "$version: $fullVersion"
 
 	for v in \
+		bionic \
 		alpine{3.12,3.13} \
 		{stretch,buster}{/slim,} \
 		windows/windowsservercore-{1809,ltsc2016} \
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@ for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
 			slim) template="$variant"; tag="$(basename "$(dirname "$dir")")" ;;
 			windowsservercore-*) template='windowsservercore'; tag="${variant#*-}" ;;
 			alpine*) template='alpine'; tag="${variant#alpine}" ;;
+			bionic) template="$variant"; tag="$variant" ;;
 			*) template='debian'; tag="$variant" ;;
 		esac
 		if [ "$variant" = 'slim' ]; then
@@ -163,7 +165,7 @@ for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
 			-e 's!^(ENV PYTHON_GET_PIP_URL) .*!\1 '"$getPipUrl"'!' \
 			-e 's!^(ENV PYTHON_GET_PIP_SHA256) .*!\1 '"$getPipSha256"'!' \
 			-e 's/^(FROM python):.*/\1:'"$version-$tag"'/' \
-			-e 's!^(FROM (debian|buildpack-deps|alpine|mcr[.]microsoft[.]com/[^:]+)):.*!\1:'"$tag"'!' \
+			-e 's!^(FROM (bionic|debian|buildpack-deps|alpine|mcr[.]microsoft[.]com/[^:]+)):.*!\1:'"$tag"'!' \
 			"$dir/Dockerfile"
 
 		case "$rcVersion/$v" in