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Some files like site.rst use "X.Y" to refer to the Python version, but Sphinx helpfully provides a |version| construct that can be replaced by the current version at build time.

If the docs literally use "X.Y", so that that can be grepped, then attaching a grep result would make this even easier for someone on Windows without grep.

Yes, this was literal. grep result on 3.1:
c-api/intro.rst:73:path and then use ``#include <pythonX.Y/Python.h>``; this will break on
c-api/intro.rst:534:directory named :file:`lib/python{X.Y}` relative to the parent directory
c-api/intro.rst:540::file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}`. (In fact, this particular path is also
faq/general.rst:356:titled "Python X.Y Release Schedule", where X.Y is a version that hasn't been
howto/urllib2.rst:156:``Python-urllib/x.y`` (where ``x`` and ``y`` are the major and minor version
install/index.rst:240:| Unix (pure) | :file:`{prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` | :file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` | \(1) |
install/index.rst:242:| Unix (non-pure) | :file:`{exec-prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` | :file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` | \(1) |
install/index.rst:265:Windows, choose :menuselection:`Start --> Programs --> Python X.Y -->
install/index.rst:386:| pure module distribution | :file:`{prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` | :option:`--install-purelib` |
install/index.rst:388:| non-pure module distribution | :file:`{exec-prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` | :option:`--install-platlib` |
install/index.rst:634:the search path will be set to ``['', '/www/python/lib/pythonX.Y/',
install/index.rst:635:'/www/python/lib/pythonX.Y/plat-linux2', ...]``.
library/site.rst:42::file:`/usr/local`. The Python X.Y library is then installed in
library/site.rst:43::file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}` (where only the first three characters of
library/site.rst:45:a subdirectory :file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` with three
library/site.rst:65: /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/bar
library/site.rst:66: /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/foo
library/pydoc.rst:67:``http://docs.python.org/X.Y/library/`` where ``X`` and ``Y`` are the
library/logging.rst:442:found for logger X.Y.Z" is printed to the console. This message is intended
library/logging.rst:464:done using loggers with names matching "foo.x.y", then the code::
library/stdtypes.rst:2324:'/usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/os.pyc'>``.
There are also things like "python2.3":
extending/building.rst:97: gcc -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -DMAJOR_VERSION=1 -DMINOR_VERSION=0 -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/include/python2.2 -c demo.c -o build/temp.linux-i686-2.2/demo.o
faq/extending.rst:240::file:`/usr/lib/python2.{x}/config/` directory, which contains various files
faq/general.rst:500: python2.2 <pathto>/db2pickley.py database.db database.pck
install/index.rst:362:them to go in :file:`/usr/local/lib/python2.{X}` rather than
install/index.rst:363::file:`/usr/lib/python2.{X}`. This can be done with ::
install/index.rst:370:modules in :file:`/usr/local/lib/python2.{X}`, but those modules would have to
install/index.rst:371:be installed to, say, :file:`/mnt/{@server}/export/lib/python2.{X}`. This could
install/index.rst:590: ['', '/usr/local/lib/python2.3', '/usr/local/lib/python2.3/plat-linux2',
install/index.rst:591: '/usr/local/lib/python2.3/lib-tk', '/usr/local/lib/python2.3/lib-dynload',
install/index.rst:592: '/usr/local/lib/python2.3/site-packages']
install/index.rst:703: :file:`{prefix}/lib/python1.5/site-packages/distutils`, so the system
library/sysconfig.rst:243: platlib = "/usr/local/lib/python3.2/site-packages"
library/sysconfig.rst:244: platstdlib = "/usr/local/lib/python3.2"
library/sysconfig.rst:245: purelib = "/usr/local/lib/python3.2/site-packages"
library/sysconfig.rst:247: stdlib = "/usr/local/lib/python3.2"
library/re.rst:1115: File "/usr/local/lib/python3.2/re.py", line 132, in match
tutorial/interpreter.rst:13:The Python interpreter is usually installed as :file:`/usr/local/bin/python3.2`
tutorial/interpreter.rst:17: python3.2
tutorial/interpreter.rst:97: $ python3.2
tutorial/interpreter.rst:151: #! /usr/bin/env python3.2
(Please ignore distutils and install docs, they’re frozen except for bugfixes, there’s no value in working on them with the replacement coming Really Soon NowTM.)
Do docs people agree this automation would be something useful?
FYI: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/grin/1.2.1 

Things are slightly worse than this issue suggests: the Sphinx formatting string |version| has leaked into the html docs in a few places (library/site.html for example).
The difficulty is that Sphinx isn't expanding the |version| variable inside :file: markup.

So we could fix this in reverse? Remove the |version| and replace them with X.Y since |version| doesn't expand within :file:?

New changeset de6976fe19aa by Ezio Melotti in branch '2.7':
#11643: fix rst markup error in site.rst.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/de6976fe19aa
New changeset 7aca2781c381 by Ezio Melotti in branch '3.2':
#11643: fix rst markup error in site.rst.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/7aca2781c381
New changeset c6892ce7e56f by Ezio Melotti in branch 'default':
#11643: merge with 3.2.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/c6892ce7e56f 

I fixed the one in site.py.
If there's no way to use |version| in :file:`...` I think using {X.Y} is OK, so that can be done where a bare X.Y (without {}) is currently used.

Here is a patch after talking with Ezio on irc tonight. The rules I (attempted) to follow are:
Within a :file: you should have {X.Y}
In a text/paragraph area you can use |version|
Within anything else just leave it as X.Y
As stated by Éric I ignored install and distutils.

After reviewing the patch I think that this change would not actually improve things. What do you think? (Thanks for the patch nonetheless :)*

Agree with Éric.