diff --git a/tools/Rules.mk b/tools/Rules.mk
index 29639a341d..41a92a28bc 100644
--- a/tools/Rules.mk
+++ b/tools/Rules.mk
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ LDFLAGS += $(shell getconf LFS_LDFLAGS)
 CFLAGS-$(CONFIG_X86_32) += $(call cc-option,$(CC),-mno-tls-direct-seg-refs)
 CFLAGS += $(CFLAGS-y)
 
+DEFAULT_PYTHON_PATH := $(shell $(XEN_ROOT)/tools/python/get-path)
+PYTHON_PATH ?= $(DEFAULT_PYTHON_PATH)
+INSTALL_PYTHON_PROG = $(XEN_ROOT)/tools/python/install-wrap \
+"$(PYTHON_PATH)" $(INSTALL_PROG)
+
 # Require GCC v3.4+ (to avoid issues with alignment constraints in Xen headers)
 check-$(CONFIG_X86) = $(call cc-ver-check,CC,0x030400,\
                         "Xen requires at least gcc-3.4")
diff --git a/tools/misc/Makefile b/tools/misc/Makefile
index 42968d8f57..b8eec1605d 100644
--- a/tools/misc/Makefile
+++ b/tools/misc/Makefile
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ build: $(TARGETS)
 install: build
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR)
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
-	$(INSTALL_PROG) $(INSTALL_BIN) $(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR)
-	$(INSTALL_PROG) $(INSTALL_SBIN) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
+	$(INSTALL_PYTHON_PROG) $(INSTALL_BIN) $(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR)
+	$(INSTALL_PYTHON_PROG) $(INSTALL_SBIN) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
 	set -e; for d in $(SUBDIRS); do $(MAKE) -C $$d install-recurse; done
 
 .PHONY: clean
diff --git a/tools/python/get-path b/tools/python/get-path
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ae672793e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/python/get-path
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+set -e
+
+check () {
+	set +e
+	p=`type -p python$v`
+	r=$?
+	set -e
+	if [ $r = 0 ]; then
+		echo >&2 "${0##*/}: will use #!$p for python programs"
+		printf "%s\n" "$p"
+		exit 0
+	fi
+}
+
+v="$(python -V 2>&1)"
+v="${v#* }"
+check
+v="${v%.*}"
+check
+echo >&2 'python version not determined, will use env to find python at runtime'
+printf "/usr/bin/env python\n"
diff --git a/tools/python/install-wrap b/tools/python/install-wrap
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..29db25d1a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/python/install-wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+# usage:
+#  .../install-wrap $(PYTHON_PATH) install <options-to-install> <src>... <dest>
+# where
+#  PYTHON_PATH is what to put after #! and may be `/usr/bin/env python'
+#
+# Used via $(INSTALL_PYTHON_PROG) in Rules.mk; PYTHON_PATH comes from
+# .../get-path alongside this script
+
+set -e
+if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then echo >&2 "${0##*/}: too few arguments"; exit 1; fi
+pythonpath="$1"; shift
+
+install=("$1"); shift
+srcs=()
+
+while [ $# != 0 ]; do
+	case "$1" in
+	-|--)	install=("${install[@]}" "$1"); shift; break ;;
+	-*)	install=("${install[@]}" "$1"); shift ;;
+	*)	break ;;
+	esac
+done
+while [ $# -gt 1 ]; do
+	srcs=("${srcs[@]}" "$1"); shift
+done
+dest="$1"; shift
+
+destf="$dest"
+for srcf in "${srcs[@]}"; do
+	if test -d "$dest"; then
+		destf="$dest/${srcf%%*/}";
+	fi
+	org="$(sed -n '2q; /^#! *\/usr\/bin\/env python *$/p' $srcf)"
+	if [ "x$org" = x ]; then
+		"${install[@]}" "$srcf" "$destf"
+		continue
+	fi
+	tmpf="$destf.tmp"
+	"${install[@]}" "$srcf" "$tmpf"
+	printf >"$tmpf" "#!%s\n" "$pythonpath"
+	sed -e 1d "$srcf" >>"$tmpf"
+	mv -f "$tmpf" "$destf"
+done