Comment by array_key_first

The main problem with python for system scripts is that's even in that domain it's not a very good choice.

Perl is right there, requires no installation, and is on practically every unix-like under the sun. Sure it's not a good language, or performant, or easy to extend, but neither is python, so who cares. And, if anything, it's a bit more expressive and compact than python, maybe to a fault.