diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f702415c12c5a4a66180f7ffd697347e5343ac4a..726db73450189ccd1ab6975ba9ca872f53a79c44 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 /GIT-LDFLAGS
 /GIT-GUI-VARS
 /GIT-PREFIX
+/GIT-PYTHON-VARS
 /GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES
 /GIT-USER-AGENT
 /GIT-VERSION-FILE
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 736ecd45b58da32575cc20019d41a2b178843a09..18023294d2fd698f53fcb436e6998ae3d17a3327 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2245,7 +2245,7 @@ $(patsubst %.perl,%,$(SCRIPT_PERL)) git-instaweb: % : unimplemented.sh
 endif # NO_PERL
 
 ifndef NO_PYTHON
-$(patsubst %.py,%,$(SCRIPT_PYTHON)): GIT-CFLAGS GIT-PREFIX
+$(patsubst %.py,%,$(SCRIPT_PYTHON)): GIT-CFLAGS GIT-PREFIX GIT-PYTHON-VARS
 $(patsubst %.py,%,$(SCRIPT_PYTHON)): % : %.py
 	$(QUIET_GEN)$(RM) $@ $@+ && \
 	INSTLIBDIR=`MAKEFLAGS= $(MAKE) -C git_remote_helpers -s \
@@ -2636,6 +2636,18 @@ GIT-GUI-VARS: FORCE
             fi
 endif
 
+### Detect Python interpreter path changes
+ifndef NO_PYTHON
+TRACK_PYTHON = $(subst ','\'',-DPYTHON_PATH='$(PYTHON_PATH_SQ)')
+
+GIT-PYTHON-VARS: FORCE
+	@VARS='$(TRACK_PYTHON)'; \
+	    if test x"$$VARS" != x"`cat $@ 2>/dev/null`" ; then \
+		echo 1>&2 "    * new Python interpreter location"; \
+		echo "$$VARS" >$@; \
+            fi
+endif
+
 test_bindir_programs := $(patsubst %,bin-wrappers/%,$(BINDIR_PROGRAMS_NEED_X) $(BINDIR_PROGRAMS_NO_X) $(TEST_PROGRAMS_NEED_X))
 
 all:: $(TEST_PROGRAMS) $(test_bindir_programs)
@@ -2911,7 +2923,7 @@ ifndef NO_TCLTK
 	$(MAKE) -C git-gui clean
 endif
 	$(RM) GIT-VERSION-FILE GIT-CFLAGS GIT-LDFLAGS GIT-GUI-VARS GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
-	$(RM) GIT-USER-AGENT GIT-PREFIX GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES
+	$(RM) GIT-USER-AGENT GIT-PREFIX GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES GIT-PYTHON-VARS
 
 .PHONY: all install profile-clean clean strip
 .PHONY: shell_compatibility_test please_set_SHELL_PATH_to_a_more_modern_shell