diff --git a/tools/check/check_python b/tools/check/check_python
index ed7bc3652b..e9e0d04178 100755
--- a/tools/check/check_python
+++ b/tools/check/check_python
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 
 . ./funcs.sh
 
+if test -z ${PYTHON}; then
+  PYTHON=python
+fi
+
 ${PYTHON} -c '
 import sys
 sys.exit(sys.version_info[0] < 2 or sys.version_info[1] < 2)
diff --git a/tools/check/check_python_devel b/tools/check/check_python_devel
index c8e0d93b2f..ee90e5da00 100755
--- a/tools/check/check_python_devel
+++ b/tools/check/check_python_devel
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 
 . ./funcs.sh
 
+if test -z ${PYTHON}; then
+  PYTHON=python
+fi
 has_or_fail ${PYTHON}
 
 ${PYTHON} -c '
diff --git a/tools/check/check_python_xml b/tools/check/check_python_xml
index 1932cb85b6..5b14971f0f 100755
--- a/tools/check/check_python_xml
+++ b/tools/check/check_python_xml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 
 . ./funcs.sh
 
+if test -z ${PYTHON}; then
+  PYTHON=python
+fi
 has_or_fail ${PYTHON}
 
 ${PYTHON} -c 'import xml.dom.minidom' 2>/dev/null || \