I have had some time to backtrack and run earlier versions.
[nykysle@unimatrix blender-2.40alpha1-linux-glibc232-py24-i386]$ ./blender
Using Python version 2.4
Blender quit
[nykysle@unimatrix blender-2.41-linux-glibc232-py24-i386]$ ./blender
Using Python version 2.4
‘import site’ failed; use -v for traceback
Blender quit
[nykysle@unimatrix blender-2.42-linux-glibc232-py24-i386]$ ./blender
guessing ‘./blender’ == ‘/opt/blender-2.42-linux-glibc232-py24-i386/./blender’
Compiled with Python version 2.4.
‘import site’ failed; use -v for traceback
Checking for installed Python… No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily.
Blender quit
[nykysle@unimatrix blender-2.42a-linux-glibc232-py24-i386]$ ./blender
guessing ‘./blender’ == ‘/opt/blender-2.42a-linux-glibc232-py24-i386/./blender’
Compiled with Python version 2.4.
‘import site’ failed; use -v for traceback
Checking for installed Python… No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily.
Blender quit
2.40 is the only one that finds python.
The “guessing” line is rather odd because the executable is launched from the folder it resides in. No guessing needed.
And python exists and it’s on the path – well 2.40 found it
[nykysle@unimatrix ~]$ python -V
Python 2.4.1
[nykysle@unimatrix ~]$ which python
/usr/bin/python
[nykysle@unimatrix ~]$ echo $PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin/:/usr/games:/usr/lib/jre-1.4.2_09/bin:/home/nykysle/bin