2 files changed, 8 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/bin/sbang b/bin/sbang
index 1ea5f06592..e71074b330 100755
--- a/bin/sbang
+++ b/bin/sbang
@@ -111,8 +111,12 @@ while read line && ((lines < 2)) ; do
 done < "$script"
 
 # Invoke any interpreter found, or raise an error if none was found.
-if [ -n "$interpreter" ]; then
-    exec $interpreter "$@"
+if [[ -n "$interpreter" ]]; then
+    if [[ "${interpreter##*/}" = "perl" ]]; then
+        exec $interpreter -x "$@"
+    else
+        exec $interpreter "$@"
+    fi
 else
     echo "error: sbang found no interpreter in $script"
     exit 1
diff --git a/bin/spack b/bin/spack
index 17586cc1f6..dcc25c5c83 100755
--- a/bin/spack
+++ b/bin/spack
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@
 # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
 import sys
-if not sys.version_info[:2] >= (2, 6):
+if (sys.version_info[0] > 2) or (sys.version_info[:2] < (2, 6)):
     v_info = sys.version_info[:3]
-    sys.exit("Spack requires Python 2.6 or higher. "
+    sys.exit("Spack requires Python 2.6 or 2.7. "
              "This is Python %d.%d.%d." % v_info)
 
 import os