diff -up syncevolution-1.5.3/configure.ac.python2 syncevolution-1.5.3/configure.ac
--- syncevolution-1.5.3/configure.ac.python2	2018-01-09 16:53:28.000000000 +0100
+++ syncevolution-1.5.3/configure.ac	2018-07-16 18:31:06.970413427 +0200
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ dnl check for programs.
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_MAKE_SET
 
+AC_PATH_PROGS(PYTHON, python2 python, "")
+if test "x$PYTHON" = "x" ; then
+   AC_ERROR([python not found])
+fi
+
 dnl Use the most recent C++ standard that is supported by the code.
 dnl We can fall back to older versions, but not below C++11.
 dnl Akonadi/Qt don't work with C++17 yet, so we can't enable that.
diff -up syncevolution-1.5.3/src/src.am.python2 syncevolution-1.5.3/src/src.am
--- syncevolution-1.5.3/src/src.am.python2	2018-01-05 16:10:27.000000000 +0100
+++ syncevolution-1.5.3/src/src.am	2018-07-16 18:30:04.703414288 +0200
@@ -42,12 +42,12 @@ if COND_DBUS
 nodist_bin_SCRIPTS += src/syncevo-http-server
 endif
 src/syncevo-http-server: $(top_srcdir)/test/syncevo-http-server.py
-	$(AM_V_GEN)cp $< $@
+	$(AM_V_GEN)sed -e 's|\@PYTHON\@|$(PYTHON)|' $< > $@
 CLEANFILES += src/syncevo-http-server
 
 nodist_bin_SCRIPTS += src/syncevo-phone-config
 src/syncevo-phone-config: $(top_srcdir)/test/syncevo-phone-config.py
-	$(AM_V_GEN)cp $< $@
+	$(AM_V_GEN)sed -e 's|\@PYTHON\@|$(PYTHON)|' $< > $@
 CLEANFILES += src/syncevo-phone-config
 
 SYNCEVOLUTION_DEP =
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ src/synccompare : $(top_srcdir)/test/Alg
 bin_SCRIPTS += src/synclog2html
 CLEANFILES += src/synclog2html
 src/synclog2html: $(top_srcdir)/test/log2html.py
-	$(AM_V_GEN)cp $< $@ && chmod u+x $@
+	$(AM_V_GEN)sed -e 's|\@PYTHON\@|$(PYTHON)|' $< > $@ && chmod u+x $@
 
 CORE_SOURCES =
 
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ testcase2patch: $(TEST_FILES_GENERATED)
 nodist_noinst_DATA += src/ClientTest.cpp.html
 CLEANFILES += src/ClientTest.cpp.html
 src/ClientTest.cpp.html: build/source2html.py test/ClientTest.cpp
-	$(AM_V_GEN)python $+ >$@
+	$(AM_V_GEN)$(PYTHON) $+ >$@
 
 # copy base test files
 $(filter-out %.tem, $(filter src/testcases/%, $(subst $(top_srcdir)/test/,src/,$(CLIENT_LIB_TEST_FILES)))) : src/% : $(top_srcdir)/test/%
diff -up syncevolution-1.5.3/test/log2html.py.python2 syncevolution-1.5.3/test/log2html.py
--- syncevolution-1.5.3/test/log2html.py.python2	2014-04-25 09:55:47.000000000 +0200
+++ syncevolution-1.5.3/test/log2html.py	2018-07-16 18:30:04.703414288 +0200
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!@PYTHON@
 
 """
 Converts the .log output for a client-test test into HTML, with
diff -up syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-http-server.py.python2 syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-http-server.py
--- syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-http-server.py.python2	2016-09-26 13:20:05.000000000 +0200
+++ syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-http-server.py	2018-07-16 18:30:04.703414288 +0200
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#! /usr/bin/python
+#!@PYTHON@
 
 '''Usage: syncevo-http-server.py <URL>
 Runs a SyncML HTTP server under the given base URL.'''
diff -up syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-phone-config.py.python2 syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-phone-config.py
--- syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-phone-config.py.python2	2014-04-25 09:55:48.000000000 +0200
+++ syncevolution-1.5.3/test/syncevo-phone-config.py	2018-07-16 18:30:04.704414288 +0200
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!@PYTHON@
 #
 # Copyright (C) 2010 Intel Corporation
 #