Install Python on Linux

Install Python and Pip on Linux

1. Check you’re python version with the following:

   python3 --version
   

2. If your python version is not the latest, do the following:

   sudo apt install python3.x -y
   

   • Note: if you are installing on an EC2 amazon linux, then use the following.

     sudo amazon-linux-extras install python3.x
     

3. Then check the location of the installed package:

   which python3.x
   

4. Then update python3 parameter to your newly installed version of python.

   sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.x 1
   python3 --version
   

5. Test that your new python version is working.

   python3 -c 'import sys; print(sys.executable);'
   

   See this post for details: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/410579/change-the-python3-default-version-in-ubuntu

6. Update pip.

   pip3 install --upgrade pip
   

   • Note: if you don’t have pip3 install it:

     sudo apt install python3-pip
     

7. Check pip version and list packages.

   pip3 --version
   pip3 list
   

Alternative Install via Python.org

1. Download and install python directly from python.org:

   cd /usr/src
   sudo wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.x.x/Python-3.x.x.tgz
   sudo tar xzvf Python-3.x.x.tgz
   

   Note: if unzipping local file then use:

   tar xvf Python-3.x.x.tar.xz
   

   Then, execute configure and install:

   cd Python-3.x.x/
   ./configure --with-openssl=/usr/src/openssl-1.0.2o --enable-optimizations
   sudo make -j 4
   sudo make altinstall
   

2. Update python3 parameter to your newly installed version of python.

   sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.x 1
   python3 -c 'import sys; print(sys.executable);'
   python3 --version