Install Python from Source in Linux

Hamza Sheikh

2015-02-11 00:36

Install Python from Source in Linux

This guide is for when you need to install a Python release different from what comes with your distribution in the repos. We'll install it to our home directory. This guide was tested to be working on Ubuntu 14.04.

Get Ready

Install pre-requisites for building Python.

user@host:~$ sudo aptitude build-dep python2.7 python3.4

Setup directory structure.

user@host:~$ mkdir -p ~/opt/{src,python279,python326,python336,python342}

You'll need to install pip after building and installing Python. Download the script from the official source. We'll use the same script to install pip in all the different versions of Python installed using this guide.

user@host:~$ cd ~/opt/src
user@host:~/opt/src$ curl -O https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py

You should really use virtualenvs for your projects. You'll find many advantages to using them but these are some that I find very useful:

virtualenv is self-contained and doesn't pollute system or local packages
Different projects can install exactly the packages and their versions they need with no conflicts with other projects

As an example, create a directory to contain all your virtualenvs.

user@host:~$ mkdir ~/opt/myvenvs

Python 2.7.9

Download Python 2.7.9 source tarball, extract it, and build the source.

user@host:~$ cd ~/opt/src
user@host:~/opt/src$ curl -O https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.9/Python-2.7.9.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ tar xvzf Python-2.7.9.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ cd Python-2.7.9
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-2.7.9$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/opt/python279
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-2.7.9$ make -j4
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-2.7.9$ make install

Install pip and virtualenv.

user@host:~/opt/src/Python-2.7.9$ cd ~/opt/python279/bin
user@host:~/opt/python279/bin$ ./python ~/opt/src/get-pip.py
user@host:~/opt/python279/bin$ ./pip install virtualenv

Create a virtualenv.

user@host:~$ ~/opt/python279/bin/virtualenv ~/opt/myvenvs/py279venv
user@host:~$ source ~/opt/myvenvs/py279venv/bin/activate
(py279venv)user@host:~$ which python
(py279venv)user@host:~$ deactivate

Install pip in the virtualenv.

(py279venv) user@host:~$ python ~/opt/src/get-pip.py

Python 3.2.6

Although Ubuntu doesn't have Python 3.2 in its official repos in Ubuntu 14.04, the build dependencies we installed earlier were sufficient to build 3.3.

Download Python 3.2.6 source tarball, extract it, and build the source.

user@host:~$ cd ~/opt/src
user@host:~/opt/src$ curl -O https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.2.6/Python-3.2.6.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ tar xvzf Python-3.2.6.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ cd Python-3.2.6
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.2.6$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/opt/python326
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.2.6$ make -j4
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.2.6$ make install

Install pip and virtualenv.

user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.2.6$ cd ~/opt/python326/bin
user@host:~/opt/python326/bin$ ./python3 ~/opt/src/get-pip.py
user@host:~/opt/python326/bin$ ./pip install virtualenv

Create a virtualenv.

user@host:~$ ~/opt/python326/bin/virtualenv-3.4 ~/opt/myvenvs/py326venv
user@host:~$ source ~/opt/myvenvs/py326venv/bin/activate
(py326venv)user@host:~$ which python3
(py326venv)user@host:~$ deactivate

You should install pip in the virtualenv.

(py326venv) user@host:~$ python3 ~/opt/src/get-pip.py

Python 3.3.6

Although Ubuntu doesn't have Python 3.3 in its official repos in Ubuntu 14.04, the build dependencies we installed earlier were sufficient to build 3.3.

Download Python 3.3.6 source tarball, extract it, and build the source.

user@host:~$ cd ~/opt/src
user@host:~/opt/src$ curl -O https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.3.6/Python-3.3.6.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ tar xvzf Python-3.3.6.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ cd Python-3.3.6
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.3.6$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/opt/python336
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.3.6$ make -j4
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.3.6$ make install

Install pip. Python 3.3 already provides virtualenv, called pyvenv, so you don't need to install it afterwards.

user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.3.6$ cd ~/opt/python336/bin
user@host:~/opt/python336/bin$ ./python3 ~/opt/src/get-pip.py

According to the Python docs, Python 3.3's virtualenv doesn't install pip. There's an additional step to install it.

user@host:~$ ~/opt/python336/bin/pyvenv-3.3 ~/opt/myvenvs/py336venv
user@host:~$ source ~/opt/myvenvs/py336venv/bin/activate
(py336venv) user@host:~$ python3 ~/opt/src/get-pip.py
(py336venv) user@host:~$ which python3
(py336venv) user@host:~$ deactivate

Python 3.4.2

Download Python 3.4.2 source tarball, extract it, and build the source.

user@host:~$ cd ~/opt/src
user@host:~/opt/src$ curl -O https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.4.2/Python-3.4.2.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ tar xvzf Python-3.4.2.tgz
user@host:~/opt/src$ cd Python-3.4.2
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.4.2$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/opt/python342
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.4.2$ make -j4
user@host:~/opt/src/Python-3.4.2$ make install

Python 3.4 already provides pip and virtualenv, called pyvenv, so you don't need to install them afterwards.

According to Installing Python Modules, Python 3.4 installs pip by default when pyvenv creates a virtualenv.

user@host:~$ ~/opt/python342/bin/pyvenv-3.4 ~/opt/myvenvs/py342venv
user@host:~$ source ~/opt/myvenvs/py342venv/bin/activate
(py342venv) user@host:~$ which python3
(py342venv) user@host:~$ deactivate

Final Comments

This is an easy-ish, tested way to get multiple releases of Python installed to your home directory. A better method may be to use Nix package manager to find and install Python releases. Maybe you could leverage it to create your own packages (derivates)?