This article describes how to configure and use a newer Python version. You may want to do this if:
Depending on the managed server where your account is located, there may be an older version of Python installed. If you want to run a newer version of Python, you can compile it from the source code.
To compile Python from the source code, follow these steps:
cd ~ wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.0/Python-3.8.0.tgz tar xvzf Python-3.8.0.tgz cd Python-3.8.0 ./configure --prefix=$HOME make make install
To configure your shell environment to use the new compiled executable, type the following commands. Replace username with your own A2 Hosting account username:
echo 'alias python3="/home/username/bin/python3.8"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
To confirm your account is configured to use the new version, type the following command:
python3 --version
If you want to create virtual environments using your new installed Python version, you must first install the virtualenv program. To do this, type the following commands:
cd ~/bin python3.8 -m pip install virtualenv
You can then create a virtual environment by running the virtualenv program in the bin directory. For example, to create a virtual environment named testenv, type the following command:
~/bin/virtualenv testenv
To activate the new environment, type the following command:
source testenv/bin/activate
The package repositories for your Linux distribution may contain an older version of Python. If you want to run a newer version of Python, you can compile it from the source code. To do this, follow these steps:
cd ~ wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.0/Python-3.8.0.tgz tar xvzf Python-3.8.0.tgz cd Python-3.8.0 ./configure make make install
To configure the shell environment to use the new compiled executable, type the following commands. Replace executable_path with the path to the compiled Python executable (for example, /usr/local/bin):
echo 'alias python3="/executable_path/python3.8"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
To confirm your account is configured to use the new version, type the following command:
python3 --version
For more information about Python, please visit https://www.python.org.
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