Python version changes, sys.executable does not

[Jeffrey Froman]

Hello All,

I have two python versions installed, one in /usr/bin, and one in
/usr/local/bin. However, when invoking python without a full path,
I get the wrong executable with the right sys.executable string!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[root at M1 ~]# ls -l /usr/local/bin/python*
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root root 3783810 Jul 19 09:15 /usr/local/bin/python
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root root 3783810 Jul 19 09:15 /usr/local/bin/python2.5
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root    1281 Jul 19 09:16 /usr/local/bin/python2.5-config
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      16 Jul 19 09:16 /usr/local/bin/python-config -> python2.5-config

[root at M1 ~]# ls -l /usr/bin/python*
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root root 5396 May  2 16:28 /usr/bin/python
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    6 Jul 18 12:20 /usr/bin/python2 -> python
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root root 5396 May  2 16:28 /usr/bin/python2.3

[root at M1 ~]# which python
/usr/local/bin/python

[root at M1 ~]# /usr/local/bin/python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.version; set()"
/usr/local/bin/python
2.5 (r25:51908, Jul 19 2007, 09:13:48)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-8)]

[root at M1 ~]# env python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.version; set()"
/usr/local/bin/python
2.5 (r25:51908, Jul 19 2007, 09:13:48)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-8)]

[root at M1 ~]# python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.version; set()"
/usr/local/bin/python
2.3.4 (#1, May  2 2007, 19:26:00)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-8)]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in ?
NameError: name 'set' is not defined
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


On a different machine, with same setup (as far as I can tell), I get the expected
results:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[root at M2 ~]# /usr/local/bin/python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.version; set()"
/usr/local/bin/python
2.5 (r25:51908, Feb  8 2007, 16:29:18)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)]

[root at M2 ~]# env python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.version; set()"
/usr/local/bin/python
2.5 (r25:51908, Feb  8 2007, 16:29:18)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)]

[root at M2 ~]# python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.version; set()"
/usr/local/bin/python
2.5 (r25:51908, Feb  8 2007, 16:29:18)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can anyone tell me what might be causing the erroneous behavior in the first example?

Thanks,
Jeffrey