Installing python
Installing python 3.8 on Ubuntu 20.04.5
First, update and upgrade:
Add PPA for Python old versions. The old versions of Python such as 3.9, 3.8, 3.7, and older are not available to install using the default system repository of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy JellyFish or 20.04 Focal Fossa. Hence, we need to add a PPA offered by the “deadsnakes” team to get the old archived Python versions easily.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
# If you get this error:
AttributeError: NoneType object has no attribute people
# Try Installing python3-launchpadlib
sudo apt-get install python3-launchpadlib
Check python versions you want. Syntax:
In my case:
Install the version you want:
Set up a default version in your system:
# Checkout existing versions
ls /usr/bin/python*
# Also, let's check out whether any version is configured as python alternatives or not. For that run:
sudo update-alternatives --list python
# If the output is: “update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for python”. Then it means there are no alternatives that have been configured, hence let’s do some:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.9 1
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.10 2
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.8 3
# Switch the default Python version
sudo update-alternatives --config python
Other methods
No very orthodox but:
# Check current Python pointer
ls -l /usr/bin/python
# Check available Python versions**
ls -l /usr/bin/python*
# Unlink current python version**
cd /usr/bin
sudo unlink python
# Select required python version and lin to python command**
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python2.7 python
# Confirm change in pointer**
ls -l /usr/bin/python
Installing python in Kali
If you are on Ubuntu 19.10 (or any other version unsupported by the deadsnakes PPA, like it's the case of Kali), you will not be able to install using the deadsnakes PPA.
First, install development packages required to build Python.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev libnss3-dev libssl-dev libreadline-dev libffi-dev curl
Then download the tarball and extract it:
Once the Python tarball has been extracted, navigate to the configure script and execute it in your Linux terminal with:
The configuration may take some time. Wait until it is successfully finishes before proceeding.
If you want to create an alternative install for python, start the build process:
If you want to replace your current version of Python with this new version, you should uninstall your current Python package using your package manager (such as apt or dnf) and then install:
Installing pip
If you get error: externally-managed-environment, then the solution is create an environment. As the message explains, this is actually not an issue with Python
itself, but rather your Linux distribution (Kali, Debian, etc.) implementing a deliberate policy to ensure you don't break your operating system and system packages by using pip (or Poetry, Hatch, PDM or another non-OS package manager) outside the protection of a virtual environment.
Creating a virtual environment
See virtual Environments.
Switch python versions
See pyenv.
Last update: 2024-03-29 Created: January 1, 2023 21:59:36