How to assign the output of a command to a Makefile variable

Question

I need to execute some make rules conditionally, only if the Python installed is greater than a certain version (say 2.5).

I thought I could do something like execut

Answer 1

Use the Make shell builtin like in MY_VAR=$(shell echo whatever)

me@Zack:~$make
MY_VAR IS whatever

me@Zack:~$ cat Makefile 
MY_VAR := $(shell echo whatever)

all:
    @echo MY_VAR IS $(MY_VAR)