Python 3.x on RHEL7

By Sachin

October 9, 2016

Manually install Python-3.5 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Install required dependencies

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yum install zlib-devel openssl-devel readline \
readline-devel sqlite-devel tkinter ncurses-static \
ncurses-base ncurses-term -y

Download, Configure, & Install Python

Download and extract the tarball

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wget --progress=bar https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.5.2/Python-3.5.2.tar.xz

# Extract tarball
tar xvJf Python-3.5.2.tar.xz

Configure and install

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cd Python-3.5.2
./configure --prefix=/usr/local

# make [-jX], where X is number of jobs.
# This can be less-than or equal to number
# of cpu-cores
make -j4
make install

Sample tailed output

Collecting setuptools
Collecting pip
Installing collected packages: setuptools, pip
Found existing installation: setuptools 18.2
Uninstalling setuptools-18.2:
  Successfully uninstalled setuptools-18.2
Found existing installation: pip 7.1.2
Uninstalling pip-7.1.2:
  Successfully uninstalled pip-7.1.2
Successfully installed pip-8.1.1 setuptools-20.10.1

You should have successfully installed Python-3.5.2 by now.

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which python3.5
#  Output
/usr/local/bin/python3.5

[Optional] Create virtual environment

You can go head and try creating Python virtual environment using pyenv.

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pyvenv py3
source py3/bin/activate

Once inside the virtual environment, verify Python version

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(py3) [jedi@pywar ~]$ python --version
Python 3.5.2