diff --git a/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build b/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build
index 3ac6ea5..24d2527 100644
--- a/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build
+++ b/gio/gdbus-2.0/codegen/meson.build
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 gdbus_codegen_conf = configuration_data()
 gdbus_codegen_conf.set('VERSION', glib_version)
-gdbus_codegen_conf.set('PYTHON', python.path())
+gdbus_codegen_conf.set('PYTHON', python_name)
 gdbus_codegen_conf.set('DATADIR', glib_datadir)
 
 # Install gdbus-codegen executable
diff --git a/gobject/meson.build b/gobject/meson.build
index 01ba59b..d8d421d 100644
--- a/gobject/meson.build
+++ b/gobject/meson.build
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
 
 python_tools_conf = configuration_data()
 python_tools_conf.set('VERSION', glib_version)
-python_tools_conf.set('PYTHON', python.path())
+python_tools_conf.set('PYTHON', python_name)
 
 foreach tool: python_tools
   tool_bin = configure_file(
diff --git a/gobject/tests/meson.build b/gobject/tests/meson.build
index 53b76d3..8851500 100644
--- a/gobject/tests/meson.build
+++ b/gobject/tests/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-py3_mod = import('python3')
-py3 = py3_mod.find_python()
-
 gobject_tests = [
   'qdata',
   'boxed',
@@ -82,8 +79,8 @@
 
 test(
   'mkenums.py',
-  py3,
+  python,
   args: files('mkenums.py'),
   env: test_env,
   suite: ['gobject'],
-)
\ No newline at end of file
+)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 71ea35b..f758365 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1800,7 +1800,9 @@
   glib_conf.set('HAVE_STRLCPY', 1)
 endif
 
-python = import('python3').find_python()
+python = import('python').find_installation('python3')
+# used for '#!/usr/bin/env <name>'
+python_name = 'python3'
 
 # Determine which user environment-dependent files that we want to install
 have_bash = find_program('bash', required : false).found() # For completion scripts