diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index 13692db79..9394de594 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -385,11 +385,11 @@ disks_test_add_disks_LDADD = \
 EXTRA_DIST += disks/debug-qemu.sh
 
 EXTRA_DIST += \
-	events/test-console-debug.pl \
+	events/test-console-debug.py \
 	events/libvirt-auth.xml
 
-TESTS += events/test-console-debug.pl
-EXTRA_DIST += events/test-console-debug.pl
+TESTS += events/test-console-debug.py
+EXTRA_DIST += events/test-console-debug.py
 
 if HAVE_LIBVIRT
 TESTS += events/test-libvirt-auth-callbacks
diff --git a/tests/events/test-console-debug.pl b/tests/events/test-console-debug.pl
deleted file mode 100755
index 777a05901..000000000
--- a/tests/events/test-console-debug.pl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env perl
-# Copyright (C) 2013 Red Hat Inc.
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
-# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
-
-# Test that console debug messages work.
-
-use strict;
-use warnings;
-
-use Sys::Guestfs;
-
-exit 77 if $ENV{SKIP_TEST_CONSOLE_DEBUG_PL};
-
-my $g = Sys::Guestfs->new ();
-
-my $log_messages = "";
-my $callback_invoked = 0;
-
-sub callback {
-    my $ev = shift;
-    my $eh = shift;
-    my $buf = shift;
-    my $array = shift;
-
-    $log_messages .= $buf;
-    $callback_invoked++;
-}
-
-my $events = $Sys::Guestfs::EVENT_APPLIANCE;
-my $eh;
-$eh = $g->set_event_callback (\&callback, $events);
-
-$g->set_verbose (1);
-
-$g->add_drive_ro ("/dev/null");
-$g->launch ();
-
-my $magic = "abcdefgh9876543210";
-
-$g->debug ("print", [$magic]);
-
-$g->close ();
-
-# Ensure the magic string appeared in the log messages.
-if ($log_messages !~ /$magic/) {
-    print "$0: log_messages does not contain magic string '$magic'\n";
-    print "$0: callback was invoked $callback_invoked times\n";
-    print "$0: log messages were:\n";
-    print "-" x 40, "\n";
-    print $log_messages;
-    print "-" x 40, "\n";
-    exit 1
-}
diff --git a/tests/events/test-console-debug.py b/tests/events/test-console-debug.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f6a90d6ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/events/test-console-debug.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# Copyright (C) 2025 Red Hat Inc.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+
+# Test that console debug messages work.
+
+import os
+import sys
+import guestfs
+
+if os.environ.get('SKIP_TEST_CONSOLE_DEBUG_PY'):
+    sys.exit(77)
+
+g = guestfs.GuestFS()
+
+log_messages = ""
+callback_invoked = 0
+
+def callback(ev, eh, buf, array):
+    global log_messages, callback_invoked
+
+    # guestfs passes log buffer as bytes under Python 3, so decode first
+    if isinstance(buf, bytes):
+        buf = buf.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+
+    log_messages += buf
+    callback_invoked += 1
+
+events = guestfs.EVENT_APPLIANCE
+eh = g.set_event_callback(callback, events)
+
+g.set_verbose(1)
+g.add_drive_ro("/dev/null")
+g.launch()
+
+magic = "abcdefgh9876543210"
+g.debug("print", [magic])
+
+g.close()
+
+# Ensure the magic string appeared in the log messages.
+if magic not in log_messages:
+    print("log_messages does not contain magic string '{}'".format(magic))
+    print("callback was invoked {} times".format(callback_invoked))
+    print("log messages were:")
+    print("-" * 40)
+    print(log_messages)
+    print("-" * 40)
+    sys.exit(1)