diff --git a/build_glob.py b/build_glob.py
index b666129a..6af8f3aa 100755
--- a/build_glob.py
+++ b/build_glob.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 ###
 #
 #       build_glob.py : Build the global_functions.h and global_functions.c
diff --git a/check-relaxng-test-suite.py b/check-relaxng-test-suite.py
index 87ec0500..4372ddc3 100755
--- a/check-relaxng-test-suite.py
+++ b/check-relaxng-test-suite.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import time
 import os
diff --git a/check-relaxng-test-suite2.py b/check-relaxng-test-suite2.py
index 559503a1..5f286ce2 100755
--- a/check-relaxng-test-suite2.py
+++ b/check-relaxng-test-suite2.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import time
 import os
diff --git a/check-xinclude-test-suite.py b/check-xinclude-test-suite.py
index 926ceb3c..a0ee028b 100755
--- a/check-xinclude-test-suite.py
+++ b/check-xinclude-test-suite.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import time
 import os
diff --git a/check-xml-test-suite.py b/check-xml-test-suite.py
index cecb59b7..284f7f0f 100755
--- a/check-xml-test-suite.py
+++ b/check-xml-test-suite.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import time
 import os
diff --git a/check-xsddata-test-suite.py b/check-xsddata-test-suite.py
index c34560ea..69c43ff2 100755
--- a/check-xsddata-test-suite.py
+++ b/check-xsddata-test-suite.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import time
 import os
diff --git a/doc/apibuild.py b/doc/apibuild.py
index 00e0bc35..e9949e2f 100755
--- a/doc/apibuild.py
+++ b/doc/apibuild.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # This is the API builder, it parses the C sources and build the
 # API formal description in XML.
diff --git a/doc/examples/index.py b/doc/examples/index.py
index 8ce8d12d..c422904f 100755
--- a/doc/examples/index.py
+++ b/doc/examples/index.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # Indexes the examples and build an XML description
 #
diff --git a/genChRanges.py b/genChRanges.py
index bd14f6ba..f4f2cfaa 100755
--- a/genChRanges.py
+++ b/genChRanges.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # Portions of this script have been (shamelessly) stolen from the
 # prior work of Daniel Veillard (genUnicode.py)
diff --git a/genUnicode.py b/genUnicode.py
index ebf48e6e..69901482 100755
--- a/genUnicode.py
+++ b/genUnicode.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # Original script modified in November 2003 to take advantage of
 # the character-validation range routines, and updated to the
diff --git a/gentest.py b/gentest.py
index 803a5d9a..7cb10cad 100755
--- a/gentest.py
+++ b/gentest.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # generate a tester program for the API
 #
diff --git a/python/generator.py b/python/generator.py
index a07daf46..81c285be 100755
--- a/python/generator.py
+++ b/python/generator.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # generate python wrappers from the XML API description
 #
diff --git a/python/setup.py.in b/python/setup.py.in
index 0628f54d..bcc4da49 100755
--- a/python/setup.py.in
+++ b/python/setup.py.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # Setup script for libxml2 and libxslt if found
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/attribs.py b/python/tests/attribs.py
index 23def617..9170cb7a 100755
--- a/python/tests/attribs.py
+++ b/python/tests/attribs.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/build.py b/python/tests/build.py
index 05e4917a..1ff4a5b9 100755
--- a/python/tests/build.py
+++ b/python/tests/build.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/compareNodes.py b/python/tests/compareNodes.py
index a11855bf..322754d8 100755
--- a/python/tests/compareNodes.py
+++ b/python/tests/compareNodes.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/ctxterror.py b/python/tests/ctxterror.py
index 0aa0150d..4823194b 100755
--- a/python/tests/ctxterror.py
+++ b/python/tests/ctxterror.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # This test exercise the redirection of error messages with a
 # functions defined in Python.
diff --git a/python/tests/cutnpaste.py b/python/tests/cutnpaste.py
index b672ae07..6134d88b 100755
--- a/python/tests/cutnpaste.py
+++ b/python/tests/cutnpaste.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/dtdvalid.py b/python/tests/dtdvalid.py
index 129b57ae..dc3af120 100755
--- a/python/tests/dtdvalid.py
+++ b/python/tests/dtdvalid.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/error.py b/python/tests/error.py
index e41c27e4..09102adb 100755
--- a/python/tests/error.py
+++ b/python/tests/error.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # This test exercise the redirection of error messages with a
 # functions defined in Python.
diff --git a/python/tests/inbuf.py b/python/tests/inbuf.py
index 16ca9bcb..10a9cf0f 100755
--- a/python/tests/inbuf.py
+++ b/python/tests/inbuf.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 try:
diff --git a/python/tests/indexes.py b/python/tests/indexes.py
index 4922b5e5..d64dfb81 100755
--- a/python/tests/indexes.py
+++ b/python/tests/indexes.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: ISO-8859-1 -*-
 import sys
 import libxml2
diff --git a/python/tests/input_callback.py b/python/tests/input_callback.py
index 2cb85dec..9151e762 100755
--- a/python/tests/input_callback.py
+++ b/python/tests/input_callback.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # This tests custom input callbacks
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/nsdel.py b/python/tests/nsdel.py
index b7f8b759..7d4aa96f 100755
--- a/python/tests/nsdel.py
+++ b/python/tests/nsdel.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this test exercise the XPath basic engine, parser, etc, and
 # allows to detect memory leaks
diff --git a/python/tests/outbuf.py b/python/tests/outbuf.py
index 8e8ef247..2bafcc83 100755
--- a/python/tests/outbuf.py
+++ b/python/tests/outbuf.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 try:
diff --git a/python/tests/push.py b/python/tests/push.py
index 56864c33..0b6ae1d3 100755
--- a/python/tests/push.py
+++ b/python/tests/push.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/pushSAX.py b/python/tests/pushSAX.py
index 850ae7e1..a2df0a87 100755
--- a/python/tests/pushSAX.py
+++ b/python/tests/pushSAX.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/pushSAXhtml.py b/python/tests/pushSAXhtml.py
index 47cd8a53..eabbfcae 100755
--- a/python/tests/pushSAXhtml.py
+++ b/python/tests/pushSAXhtml.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/reader.py b/python/tests/reader.py
index 5a461460..d8e6fff1 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: ISO-8859-1 -*-
 #
 # this tests the basic APIs of the XmlTextReader interface
diff --git a/python/tests/reader2.py b/python/tests/reader2.py
index 6e6353b4..c6bad364 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader2.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader2.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 #
 # this tests the DTD validation with the XmlTextReader interface
diff --git a/python/tests/reader3.py b/python/tests/reader3.py
index 39a7f73a..6507a7bd 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader3.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader3.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the entities substitutions with the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/reader4.py b/python/tests/reader4.py
index f5fbaa1f..5aeed28e 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader4.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader4.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the basic APIs of the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/reader5.py b/python/tests/reader5.py
index f564e9b2..19d1c3be 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader5.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader5.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the Expand() API of the xmlTextReader interface
 # this extract the Dragon bibliography entries from the XML specification
diff --git a/python/tests/reader6.py b/python/tests/reader6.py
index 0b2e68dd..7d293c65 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader6.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader6.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the entities substitutions with the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/reader7.py b/python/tests/reader7.py
index 2b1fb6d4..8cb7a731 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader7.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader7.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the entities substitutions with the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/reader8.py b/python/tests/reader8.py
index 8636b8dd..1e4b7c00 100755
--- a/python/tests/reader8.py
+++ b/python/tests/reader8.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the entities substitutions with the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/readererr.py b/python/tests/readererr.py
index 86baa3a5..6c9f85ec 100755
--- a/python/tests/readererr.py
+++ b/python/tests/readererr.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the basic APIs of the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/readernext.py b/python/tests/readernext.py
index b77acbc8..112283ee 100755
--- a/python/tests/readernext.py
+++ b/python/tests/readernext.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- coding: ISO-8859-1 -*-
 #
 # this tests the next API of the XmlTextReader interface
diff --git a/python/tests/regexp.py b/python/tests/regexp.py
index 27901329..ccef3f66 100755
--- a/python/tests/regexp.py
+++ b/python/tests/regexp.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 
 # Memory debug specific
diff --git a/python/tests/relaxng.py b/python/tests/relaxng.py
index a8a6a704..277ac5f5 100755
--- a/python/tests/relaxng.py
+++ b/python/tests/relaxng.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/resolver.py b/python/tests/resolver.py
index f506a74c..c39edc9f 100755
--- a/python/tests/resolver.py
+++ b/python/tests/resolver.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 try:
diff --git a/python/tests/schema.py b/python/tests/schema.py
index 7426c608..28501f8b 100755
--- a/python/tests/schema.py
+++ b/python/tests/schema.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/serialize.py b/python/tests/serialize.py
index 9f36a109..6c8a94ec 100755
--- a/python/tests/serialize.py
+++ b/python/tests/serialize.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/sync.py b/python/tests/sync.py
index b2a9131f..a9a89c7d 100755
--- a/python/tests/sync.py
+++ b/python/tests/sync.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/thread2.py b/python/tests/thread2.py
index fd349517..9a171e9a 100755
--- a/python/tests/thread2.py
+++ b/python/tests/thread2.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import string, sys, time
 try:
     from _thread import get_ident
diff --git a/python/tests/tst.py b/python/tests/tst.py
index 51783366..d528bf0c 100755
--- a/python/tests/tst.py
+++ b/python/tests/tst.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/tstLastError.py b/python/tests/tstLastError.py
index ffa3806d..ea57e397 100755
--- a/python/tests/tstLastError.py
+++ b/python/tests/tstLastError.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys, unittest
 
 import libxml2
diff --git a/python/tests/tstURI.py b/python/tests/tstURI.py
index 8c22ee7e..b3ac87b9 100755
--- a/python/tests/tstURI.py
+++ b/python/tests/tstURI.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/tstmem.py b/python/tests/tstmem.py
index 858f2277..a9dbdea2 100755
--- a/python/tests/tstmem.py
+++ b/python/tests/tstmem.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 
 try:
diff --git a/python/tests/tstxpath.py b/python/tests/tstxpath.py
index e8ba082d..ea490127 100755
--- a/python/tests/tstxpath.py
+++ b/python/tests/tstxpath.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/validDTD.py b/python/tests/validDTD.py
index 17c7b3d4..1afb93f5 100755
--- a/python/tests/validDTD.py
+++ b/python/tests/validDTD.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/validRNG.py b/python/tests/validRNG.py
index 22ebe318..0b3d60eb 100755
--- a/python/tests/validRNG.py
+++ b/python/tests/validRNG.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/validSchemas.py b/python/tests/validSchemas.py
index b123e01e..b68747dc 100755
--- a/python/tests/validSchemas.py
+++ b/python/tests/validSchemas.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import libxml2
 import sys
 
diff --git a/python/tests/validate.py b/python/tests/validate.py
index 08c30ff9..afdf0e9f 100755
--- a/python/tests/validate.py
+++ b/python/tests/validate.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/walker.py b/python/tests/walker.py
index 00bb4c96..62b48dc1 100755
--- a/python/tests/walker.py
+++ b/python/tests/walker.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this tests the entities substitutions with the XmlTextReader interface
 #
diff --git a/python/tests/xpath.py b/python/tests/xpath.py
index de9c2fd7..816de8a3 100755
--- a/python/tests/xpath.py
+++ b/python/tests/xpath.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # this test exercise the XPath basic engine, parser, etc, and
 # allows to detect memory leaks
diff --git a/python/tests/xpathext.py b/python/tests/xpathext.py
index ab7b3bb3..69e1fc95 100755
--- a/python/tests/xpathext.py
+++ b/python/tests/xpathext.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/xpathleak.py b/python/tests/xpathleak.py
index 0445fce0..438c13f5 100755
--- a/python/tests/xpathleak.py
+++ b/python/tests/xpathleak.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys, libxml2
 
 libxml2.debugMemory(True)
diff --git a/python/tests/xpathns.py b/python/tests/xpathns.py
index b840fc63..a4509052 100755
--- a/python/tests/xpathns.py
+++ b/python/tests/xpathns.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/python/tests/xpathret.py b/python/tests/xpathret.py
index 254bd946..8517c42d 100755
--- a/python/tests/xpathret.py
+++ b/python/tests/xpathret.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys
 import libxml2
 
diff --git a/xstc/xstc.py b/xstc/xstc.py
index 7b119bd3..cf4a8a1d 100755
--- a/xstc/xstc.py
+++ b/xstc/xstc.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 #
 # This is the MS subset of the W3C test suite for XML Schemas.