Softpanorama

May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-)
Home Switchboard Unix Administration Red Hat TCP/IP Networks Neoliberalism Toxic Managers
(slightly skeptical) Educational society promoting "Back to basics" movement against IT overcomplexity and  bastardization of classic Unix

Compiling Python from source

In general, building python on Linux requires tcl/tk installed separately and sometimes a separate python-tkinter package for tkinter/idle/turtle. Details depend on the linux distributor and maybe the version. Try looking for python-devel or *devel if Chris's answer does not work.

Try either a RedHat list or python-list, the latter accessible via news.gmane.org.

5. Creating Built Distributions — Python 3.6.3 documentation

How to install the latest version of Python on CentOS - Daniel Eriksson

Things to consider

Before you compile and install Python there are a few things you should know and/or consider:

Unicode

Python has a long and complicated history when it comes to Unicode support. Unless you have very specific reasons you should configure Python 2.7 to enable UTF-32 support. This increases memory usage but improves compatibility. In Python 3.3+ the Unicode support has been completely rewritten and strings are automatically stored using the most efficient encoding possible.

You enable UTF-32 in Python 2.7 by passing --enable-unicode=ucs4 to the configure command.

Shared library

You should compile Python as a shared library by passing --enable-shared to the configure command. All modern Linux distros ship with Python compiled as a shared library. It reduces memory usage if more than one Python process is running, and there are third-party tools that might not work properly without it. To make sure the executable can find its shared library you also need to pass some additional flags to the configure command (LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath /usr/local/lib").

If you do not have sudo or root access you will probably not be able to compile Python as a shared library. If someone knows how to solve this please leave a comment below and I will update this text with instructions.

Use “make altinstall” to prevent problems

It is critical that you use make altinstall when you install your custom version of Python. If you use the normal make install you will end up with two different versions of Python in the filesystem both named python. This can lead to problems that are very hard to diagnose.

Preparations – install prerequisites

In order to compile Python you must first install the development tools and a few extra libs. The extra libs are not strictly needed to compile Python but without them your new Python interpreter will be quite useless.

Execute all the commands below as root either by temporarily logging in as root or by using sudo.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

# Start by making sure your system is up-to-date:

yum update

# Compilers and related tools:

yum groupinstall -y "development tools"

# Libraries needed during compilation to enable all features of Python:

yum install -y zlib-devel bzip2-devel openssl-devel ncurses-devel sqlite-devel readline-devel tk-devel gdbm-devel db4-devel libpcap-devel xz-devel expat-devel

# If you are on a clean "minimal" install of CentOS you also need the wget tool:

yum install -y wget

Download, compile and install Python

Here are the commands to download, compile and install Python.

Shell

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13
# Python 2.7.14:

wget http://python.org/ftp/python/2.7.14/Python-2.7.14.tar.xz

tar xf Python-2.7.14.tar.xz

cd Python-2.7.14

./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-unicode=ucs4 --enable-shared LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath /usr/local/lib"

make && make altinstall

# Python 3.6.3:

wget http://python.org/ftp/python/3.6.3/Python-3.6.3.tar.xz

tar xf Python-3.6.3.tar.xz

cd Python-3.6.3

./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-shared LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath /usr/local/lib"

make && make altinstall

After running the commands above your newly installed Python interpreter will be available as /usr/local/bin/python2.7 or /usr/local/bin/python3.6. The system version of Python 2.6.6 will continue to be available as /usr/bin/python, /usr/bin/python2 and /usr/bin/python2.6.

You might also want to strip symbols from the shared library to reduce the memory footprint.

Shell

1

2

3

4

# Strip the Python 2.7 binary:

strip /usr/local/lib/libpython2.7.so.1.0

# Strip the Python 3.6 binary:

strip /usr/local/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0

Install/upgrade pip, setuptools and wheel

Each Python interpreter on your system needs its own install of pip, setuptools and wheel. The easiest way to install or upgrade these packages is by using the get-pip.py script.

Shell

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11
# First get the script:

wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py

# Then execute it using Python 2.7 and/or Python 3.6:

python2.7 get-pip.py

python3.6 get-pip.py

# With pip installed you can now do things like this:

pip2.7 install [packagename]

pip2.7 install --upgrade [packagename]

pip2.7 uninstall [packagename]

The packages will end up in /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/ (where X.Y is the Python version).

What's next?

If you are using Python 2.7 I strongly recommend that you install virtualenv and learn how to use it. Virtualenv makes it possible to create isolated Python environments. If you are using Python 3.3+ then you don't need virtualenv because that functionality is already built in.

Each isolated Python environment (also called sandbox) can have its own Python version and packages. This is very useful when you work on multiple projects or on different versions of the same project.

Create your first isolated Python environment

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

# Install virtualenv for Python 2.7 and create a sandbox called my27project:

pip2.7 install virtualenv

virtualenv my27project

# Use the built-in functionality in Python 3.6 to create a sandbox called my36project:

python3.6 -m venv my36project

# Check the system Python interpreter version:

python --version

# This will show Python 2.6.6

# Activate the my27project sandbox:

source my27project/bin/activate

# Check the Python version in the sandbox (it should be Python 2.7.14):

python --version

# Deactivate the sandbox:

deactivate

# Activate the my36project sandbox:

source my36project/bin/activate

# Check the Python version in the sandbox (it should be Python 3.6.3):

python --version

# Deactivate the sandbox:

deactivate


Top Visited
Switchboard
Latest
Past week
Past month

NEWS CONTENTS

Old News ;-)

[Dec 05, 2017] How to Install Latest Python 3.6 Version in Linux

Dec 05, 2017 | www.tecmint.com

Although we can install the core packages and their dependencies using yum and aptitude (or apt-get ), we will explain how to perform the installation from source instead.

Why? The reason is simple: this allows us to have the latest stable release of the language ( 3.6 ) and to provide a distribution-agnostic installation method.

Prior to installing Python in CentOS 7, let's make sure our system has all the necessary development dependencies:

# yum -y groupinstall development# yum -y install zlib-devel

In Debian we will need to install gcc, make, and the zlib compression / decompression library:

# aptitude -y install gcc make zlib1g-dev

To install Python 3.6 , run the following commands:

# wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.6.3/Python-3.6.3.tar.xz
# tar xJf Python-3.6.3.tar.xz
# cd Python-3.6.3
# ./configure
# make
# make install

Recommended Links

Google matched content

Softpanorama Recommended

Top articles

Sites

Install Python 3.x in CentOS - RedHat 6.x from sources [sromero.org]

5. Creating Built Distributions - Python 3.6.3 documentation

How to install the latest version of Python on CentOS - Daniel Eriksson



Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotesSomerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose BierceBernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOSProgramming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC developmentScripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-MonthHow to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D


Copyright © 1996-2021 by Softpanorama Society. www.softpanorama.org was initially created as a service to the (now defunct) UN Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) without any remuneration. This document is an industrial compilation designed and created exclusively for educational use and is distributed under the Softpanorama Content License. Original materials copyright belong to respective owners. Quotes are made for educational purposes only in compliance with the fair use doctrine.

FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to advance understanding of computer science, IT technology, economic, scientific, and social issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided by section 107 of the US Copyright Law according to which such material can be distributed without profit exclusively for research and educational purposes.

This is a Spartan WHYFF (We Help You For Free) site written by people for whom English is not a native language. Grammar and spelling errors should be expected. The site contain some broken links as it develops like a living tree...

You can use PayPal to to buy a cup of coffee for authors of this site

Disclaimer:

The statements, views and opinions presented on this web page are those of the author (or referenced source) and are not endorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflect, the opinions of the Softpanorama society. We do not warrant the correctness of the information provided or its fitness for any purpose. The site uses AdSense so you need to be aware of Google privacy policy. You you do not want to be tracked by Google please disable Javascript for this site. This site is perfectly usable without Javascript.

Last modified: December, 26, 2017