Step-by-Step Guide to Installing Python 3.6.5 on Linux (with Troubleshooting)
This tutorial walks through checking the default Python version on a Linux system, locating its binaries, downloading Python 3.6.5 source, installing required build dependencies, compiling and installing Python, creating symlinks, and configuring environment variables, while also addressing common network and repository issues.
Based on the Linux distribution shown in the image, the system already includes Python 2.7.5.
1. Verify the existing Python version with the command python --version. The output confirms Python 2.7.5, and the interpreter can be entered with python (exit with Ctrl+D).
2. Locate the default Python binaries. Both /usr/bin/python and /usr/bin/python2 are symbolic links ultimately pointing to /usr/bin/python2.7, so python, python2 and python2.7 are equivalent.
3. Install Python 3:
(1) Download the source package from https://www.python.org/downloads/source/; for example, Python 3.6.5.
(2) Upload the Python-3.6.5.tgz file to a directory on the Linux host, such as /root/tools.
(3) Extract the archive with tar -zxvf Python-3.6.5.tgz.
(4) Install the required build dependencies:
yum -y install zlib-devel bzip2-devel openssl-devel ncurses-devel sqlite-devel readline-devel tk-devel gcc makeIf using Python 3.7, also install libffi-devel. The installation should complete in about one minute.
If the yum command fails due to network issues, edit the network interface configuration (e.g., /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ens33) with appropriate settings and restart the network service before retrying the yum command.
(5) Compile and install Python:
./configure --prefix=/root/training/Python-3.6.5
make
make installThe --prefix option sets the installation directory. After installation, setuptools and pip are also installed under /root/training/Python-3.6.5.
(6) Create a symbolic link for the new Python binary in /usr/local/bin so it can be invoked as python3 without removing the existing Python 2.7.
Running python3 now starts the newly installed interpreter, while the original python / python2 commands still refer to Python 2.7.
(7) Configure environment variables to use pip3 easily. Edit ~/.bash_profile and add:
# Configure Python
export PYTHON_HOME=/root/training/Python-3.6.5
export PATH=$PYTHON_HOME/bin:$PATHSource the profile with source ~/.bash_profile and verify the configuration using echo $PYTHON_HOME and python3 --version.
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