diff --git a/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/gdbus-codegen.in b/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/gdbus-codegen.in
index 67d367543..8f9f3108c 100755
--- a/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/gdbus-codegen.in
+++ b/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/gdbus-codegen.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env @PYTHON@
+#!@PYTHON@
 
 # GDBus - GLib D-Bus Library
 #
diff --git a/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build b/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build
index 6d19cd4ba..a8dfd6287 100644
--- a/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build
+++ b/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ gdbus_codegen_conf = configuration_data()
 gdbus_codegen_conf.set('VERSION', glib_version)
 gdbus_codegen_conf.set('MAJOR_VERSION', major_version)
 gdbus_codegen_conf.set('MINOR_VERSION', minor_version)
-gdbus_codegen_conf.set('PYTHON', python_name)
+gdbus_codegen_conf.set('PYTHON', python.full_path())
 gdbus_codegen_conf.set('DATADIR', glib_datadir)
 
 # Install gdbus-codegen executable
diff --git a/glib/gtester-report.in b/glib/gtester-report.in
index b8291d2b4..0745d53d0 100644
--- a/glib/gtester-report.in
+++ b/glib/gtester-report.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#! /usr/bin/env @PYTHON@
+#!@PYTHON@
 # GLib Testing Framework Utility			-*- Mode: python; -*-
 # Copyright (C) 2007 Imendio AB
 # Authors: Tim Janik
diff --git a/glib/meson.build b/glib/meson.build
index d2efebadc..24cbb664d 100644
--- a/glib/meson.build
+++ b/glib/meson.build
@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ endif
 
 report_conf = configuration_data()
 report_conf.set('GLIB_VERSION', glib_version)
-report_conf.set('PYTHON', python_name)
+report_conf.set('PYTHON', python.full_path())
 configure_file(
   input: 'gtester-report.in',
   output: 'gtester-report',
diff --git a/gobject/glib-genmarshal.in b/gobject/glib-genmarshal.in
index aa5af43bd..0578b741f 100755
--- a/gobject/glib-genmarshal.in
+++ b/gobject/glib-genmarshal.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env @PYTHON@
+#!@PYTHON@
 
 # pylint: disable=too-many-lines, missing-docstring, invalid-name
 
diff --git a/gobject/glib-mkenums.in b/gobject/glib-mkenums.in
index e10b910f0..7e794e96d 100755
--- a/gobject/glib-mkenums.in
+++ b/gobject/glib-mkenums.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env @PYTHON@
+#!@PYTHON@
 
 # If the code below looks horrible and unpythonic, do not panic.
 #
diff --git a/gobject/meson.build b/gobject/meson.build
index 2129aaf8a..78b732bf3 100644
--- a/gobject/meson.build
+++ b/gobject/meson.build
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ python_tools = [
 
 python_tools_conf = configuration_data()
 python_tools_conf.set('VERSION', glib_version)
-python_tools_conf.set('PYTHON', python_name)
+python_tools_conf.set('PYTHON', python.full_path())
 
 foreach tool: python_tools
   tool_bin = configure_file(
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index c741a0c32..5328adc3a 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2433,8 +2433,6 @@ endif
 glib_conf.set('HAVE_PROC_SELF_CMDLINE', have_proc_self_cmdline)
 
 python = import('python').find_installation(modules: ['packaging'])
-# used for '#!/usr/bin/env <name>'
-python_name = 'python3'
 
 python_version = python.language_version()
 python_version_req = '>=3.7'