We're going to walk through how to install the current latest version of Python alongside Ubuntu's system Python versions safely and easily. We can easily switch the active version of Python on our machine via a convenient CLI.It's best to avoid messing around with your Python PATH whenever possible.We want to leave our system version of Python intact.So what do we do? There are a couple of ways to go about getting an updated version of Python on Ubuntu, but using Ubuntu's built-in 'alternative install' is optimal for a number of reasons: In case nobody has told you not to do that, I'll do the honors: don't do that. But what if you don't want to run either of those versions? If you're like me, you might have tried to replace your system's default installation and destroyed your machine in the process. Code bootcamps and tutorials do a fine job of teaching students how to run Python code locally, but the most meaningful applications don't run on local machines: they run on servers, on the internet, because that's the point, isn't it? Maybe I'm taking crazy pills here.ĭepending on which version of Ubuntu you're running, your VPS probably shipped with either Python 2.7, or both Python 2.7 and Python 3.6. One of my earliest frustrations with Python development had nothing to do with Python itself, but rather the needlessly esoteric act of deploying a Python app. If you're running Ubuntu 18.04 or older, go here. There are a number of subtle differences to managing versions of Python on older distributions of Ubuntu.

Install python 2.7 linux