Since python passed to use version 3 as the default there's a need to handle the version2 code execution with the corret python interpreter. I have a small python2 project where I use make to configure and install python package, so here's my question: How can I determine python's version inside Makefile?
Here's the logic I want to use: if (python.version == 3) python2 some_script.py2 else python3 some_script.py3
Thanks in advance!
python_version_full := $(wordlist 2,4,$(subst ., ,$(shell python --version 2>&1))) python_version_major := $(word 1,${python_version_full}) python_version_minor := $(word 2,${python_version_full}) python_version_patch := $(word 3,${python_version_full}) my_cmd.python.2 := python2 some_script.py2 my_cmd.python.3 := python3 some_script.py3 my_cmd := ${my_cmd.python.${python_version_major}} all : @echo ${python_version_full} @echo ${python_version_major} @echo ${python_version_minor} @echo ${python_version_patch} @echo ${my_cmd} .PHONY : all 
python -V insteadHere is a shorter solution. in top of your makefile write:
PYV=$(shell python -c "import sys;t='{v[0]}.{v[1]}'.format(v=list(sys.version_info[:2]));sys.stdout.write(t)"); Then you can use it with $(PYV)
Here we check for python version > 3.5 before continuing to run make recipes
ifeq (, $(shell which python )) $(error "PYTHON=$(PYTHON) not found in $(PATH)") endif PYTHON_VERSION_MIN=3.5 PYTHON_VERSION=$(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%d.%d"% sys.version_info[0:2])' ) PYTHON_VERSION_OK=$(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys;\ print(int(float("%d.%d"% sys.version_info[0:2]) >= $(PYTHON_VERSION_MIN)))' ) ifeq ($(PYTHON_VERSION_OK),0) $(error "Need python $(PYTHON_VERSION) >= $(PYTHON_VERSION_MIN)") endif 
This might help: here's a thread in SF about checking the Python version to control new language features.
PYTHON=$(shell command -v python3) ifeq (, $(PYTHON)) $(error "PYTHON=$(PYTHON) not found in $(PATH)") endif PYTHON_VERSION_MIN=3.9 PYTHON_VERSION_CUR=$(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; print("%d.%d"% sys.version_info[0:2])') PYTHON_VERSION_OK=$(shell $(PYTHON) -c 'import sys; cur_ver = sys.version_info[0:2]; min_ver = tuple(map(int, "$(PYTHON_VERSION_MIN)".split("."))); print(int(cur_ver >= min_ver))') ifeq ($(PYTHON_VERSION_OK), 0) $(error "Need python version >= $(PYTHON_VERSION_MIN). Current version is $(PYTHON_VERSION_CUR)") endif 