(kickstart)jared@eve:~/kickstart/debian_post/trunk$ cat /home/jared/tab2space.py 

import sys
import os
import shutil
from tempfile import mkstemp

DEBUG = True
tab = '\x09'
space = '\x20'

expand = space * 4

score = [0, 0]

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print 'File path argument required.'
    sys.exit(-1)

path = sys.argv[1]

old_fp = open(path, 'r')

temp_fd, temp_path = mkstemp()

temp_fp = open(temp_path, 'w')

for line in old_fp:
    if DEBUG:
        if line.find(tab) > -1:
            print 'tab character found on line ' + str(score[0] + 1)
            score[1] = score[1] + 1

    temp_fp.write(line.replace(tab, expand))
    score[0] = score[0] + 1

if DEBUG:
    print 'total lines using the tab character: ' + str(score[1])

temp_fp.close()
old_fp.close()

bak_file = path + '.tab2space'

shutil.move(path, bak_file)
shutil.move(temp_path, path)
os.chmod(path, 0644)