python vs python3 in ./utils/brand.sh on Debian

[altercat10n]

Version of SearXNG, commit number if you are using on master branch and stipulate if you forked SearXNG

2024.2.18+76845ea42
commit 76845ea
master branch, no fork

How did you install SearXNG?

sudo -H ./utils/searxng.sh install all

What happened?

The installation script ./utils/searxng.sh uses the script ./utils/brand.sh which results in the following errors on Debian 12 Bookworm:

…/searxng/utils/brand.sh: line 19: python: command not found
…/searxng/utils/brand.sh: line 20: python: command not found
…/searxng/utils/brand.sh: line 21: python: command not found

Installation and update appear to work nonetheless.

How To Reproduce

Install SearXNG with sudo -H ./utils/searxng.sh install all on Debian 12 Bookworm.

Expected behavior

No error messages. Correct Python path and version used and script executed without problems.

Additional context

Debian does not use /usr/bin/python by default since some versions ago, but /usr/bin/python3. But python is hard coded in the shell script, not python3.

Debian users can fix this easily by installing package python-is-python3 (sudo apt install python-is-python3), which installs a symlink /usr/bin/python -> python3.

Debian users should at least be advised to install package python-is-python3 in SearXNG documentation.

Ideally, shell scripts should automatically determine correct Python version and path to use.

[return42]

Install SearXNG with sudo -H ./utils/searxng.sh install all on Debian 12 Bookworm.

can't believe debian 12 ships python 2 -->

Debian provides the latest stable Python 3 release; it also provides the latest stable Python 2 release, but Python 2 is unsupported by the Python Foundation since 2020-01-01 and is being removed as of Debian 11 (Bullseye) --> https://www.debian.org/News/2021/20210814

Ideally, shell scripts should automatically determine correct Python version and path to use.

Its a uncommon case on old LTS distros ..

[altercat10n]

Install SearXNG with sudo -H ./utils/searxng.sh install all on Debian 12 Bookworm.

can't believe debian 12 ships python 2

You are correct, it does not in current versions, as Debian 12 Bookworm.

Its a uncommon case on old LTS distros ..

This is not true. The common case in current Debian distributions is:

With the switch to Python 3, Debian 11 Bullseye (currently “oldstable”) and Debian 12 Bookworm (currently “stable”) do not use /usr/bin/python, but /usr/bin/python3. That is, using the command python in current Debian versions results in an error, as python3 should have been used.

Unless the user manually installed the package python-is-python3, which is not installed by default; but which should be advised if the shell scripts are not going to be adapted.

---

NOTE: Debian 11 (bullseye) has removed the "python" package and the '/usr/bin/python' symlink due to the deprecation of Python 2. No packaged scripts should depend on the existence of '/usr/bin/python': if they do, that is a bug that should be reported to Debian. You can use the 'python-is-python3' or 'python-is-python2' packages to restore an appropriate '/usr/bin/python' symlink for third-party or legacy scripts.

– https://wiki.debian.org/Python#Python_in_Debian

[Sailing74]

Thanks for this. Just came across the same issue trying to install searxng on debian 12. Installing python-is-python3 fixes things.

[un99known99]

worked for me as well :)