diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
index 4f9c6392748..8718efc2667 100644
--- a/.bazelrc
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 common --enable_platform_specific_config
 common --experimental_repository_cache_hardlinks
 
-# specify python path on Windows for pyo3 compile
+# specify python path for pyo3 compile
 build:windows --action_env="PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE=c:\\python\\python.exe"
+#build:linux --action_env="PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE=/usr/local/bin/python3.8"
 
 # runfiles are off by default on Windows, and we need them
 build --enable_runfiles
diff --git a/docs/linux.md b/docs/linux.md
index d5bfc017854..7729b667bff 100644
--- a/docs/linux.md
+++ b/docs/linux.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ other than /usr/bin, you'll need to put the following into a file called user.ba
 at the top of this repo before proceeding:
 
 ```
-build --action_env=PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE=/usr/local/bin/python
+build --action_env=PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE=/usr/local/bin/python3.8
 ```
 
 If you're building Anki from a docker container or distro that has no `python` command in
diff --git a/python.bzl b/python.bzl
index 67b7d72c1b7..8926cb67265 100644
--- a/python.bzl
+++ b/python.bzl
@@ -8,13 +8,16 @@ def _impl(rctx):
         "python.exe",
     ]
     path = None
-    for name in names:
-        path = rctx.which(name)
-        if path:
-            break
+    if rctx.os.environ.get("PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE"):
+        path = rctx.os.environ.get("PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE")
+    else:
+        for name in names:
+            path = rctx.which(name)
+            if path:
+                break
 
     if not path:
-        fail("python3 or python.exe not found on path")
+        fail("python3 or python.exe not found on path, and PYTHON_SYS_EXECUTABLE not set")
 
     rctx.symlink(path, "python")
     rctx.file("BUILD.bazel", """