Feature request: control 'python' pathname

["Daniel E. Macks" <dmacks netspace org>]

Problem: the meld build process currently uses "first python in PATH"
to compile its .py->.py[oc] and also as the #! line in the meld
executable. If I understand compiled python libs correctly, that means
those files will only be usable if the same python version is used (if
I upgrade my /usr/bin/python, they become useless). Further, meld
requires python >= 2.3, but I could have a system where "python" is
some lesser version and a separate "python2.3" executable.

Potential solution: have a PYTHON variable in GNUmakefile, defaulting
to "python" that allows one to force a specific python interpretter to
be used for compiling. Then use that same variable as a basis to write
a new #! line into 'meld': if $PYTHON is relative, write it into a
/usr/bin/env form; if it is absolute, just use it as-is.

That way I can say
  PYTHON=/sw/bin/python2.3 make
and my crufty "python" that is python2.1 won't cause problems.

dan

-- 
Daniel Macks
dmacks netspace org
http://www.netspace.org/~dmacks