diff --git a/suites/hg/bin-env-setup/mercurial.poulpe-setup.sh b/suites/hg/bin-env-setup/mercurial.poulpe-setup.sh
index 0384e6ceb1c309e509275064100ee784291945ed_c3VpdGVzL2hnL2Jpbi1lbnYtc2V0dXAvbWVyY3VyaWFsLnBvdWxwZS1zZXR1cC5zaA==..77563923a1494464d7c9806b0692f35ae0664210_c3VpdGVzL2hnL2Jpbi1lbnYtc2V0dXAvbWVyY3VyaWFsLnBvdWxwZS1zZXR1cC5zaA== 100755
--- a/suites/hg/bin-env-setup/mercurial.poulpe-setup.sh
+++ b/suites/hg/bin-env-setup/mercurial.poulpe-setup.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #
 # environment variable that MAY be set:
 #
+#   PYTHON_VERSION     a path to the Python to use for the bin env
 #   MERCURIAL_REPO_URL a path to a mercurial clone.
 #   MERCURIAL_FLAVOR   a type of installation, available value:
 #                          - default: Mercurial as you would get it by default
@@ -34,6 +35,10 @@
 
 [ -n "${MERCURIAL_VERSION}" ]
 
+python="${PYTHON_VERSION:-python3}"
+
+echo "using Python $python"
+
 mkdir poulpe-tmp
 mkdir --parents /tmp/poulpe-clone-cache/
 mkdir --parents /tmp/poulpe-compile-cache/
@@ -53,7 +58,7 @@
 
 echo "update done"
 
-python3 -m venv .
+python -m venv .
 
 echo "python venv done"