Python is known to be a powerful and easy to learn programming language. It is designed to be efficient, simple but with effective approach to object-oriented programming. Python is an ideal language for scripting and rapid application development because of its elegant syntax and dynamic typing, together with its interpreted nature. In this short tutorial I’ll show you how to quickly install Python 3.8 in Amazon Linux 2 server.
Python 3.8 is the newest major release of the Python programming language as of the time when this article is updated. This release contains many new features and optimizations. Among the major new features of Python 3.8 series releases as compared to 3.7 are:
- PEP 572, Assignment expressions
- PEP 570, Positional-only arguments
- PEP 587, Python Initialization Configuration (improved embedding)
- PEP 590, Vectorcall: a fast calling protocol for CPython
- PEP 578, Runtime audit hooks
- PEP 574, Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data
- Typing-related: PEP 591 (Final qualifier), PEP 586 (Literal types), and PEP 589 (TypedDict)
- Parallel filesystem cache for compiled bytecode
- Debug builds share ABI as release builds
- f-strings support a handy
=specifier for debugging continueis now legal infinally:blocks- on Windows, the default
asyncioevent loop is nowProactorEventLoop - on macOS, the spawn start method is now used by default in
multiprocessing multiprocessingcan now use shared memory segments to avoid pickling costs between processestyped_astis merged back to CPythonLOAD_GLOBALis now 40% fasterpicklenow uses Protocol 4 by default, improving performance
Install Python 3.8 on Amazon Linux 2
The key focus for this article is to help you install Python 3.8 on Amazon Linux 2. There are many standard libraries freely available in source or binary form for all major platforms from the Python Web site, https://www.python.org/ which can be used to extend Python features.
Install from amazon-linux-extras repository
For you to install 3.8 on Amazon Linux 2, you need to have amazon-linux-extras repository installed.
$ which amazon-linux-extras
/usr/bin/amazon-linux-extrasIf the command doesn’t return any output, then install the package that will configure the repository:
sudo yum install -y amazon-linux-extrasConfirm if you can see Python 3.8 packages available on the repository.
$ amazon-linux-extras | grep -i python
44 python3.8 available [ =stable ]As can be seen from the output python3.8 package is available for installation.
Enable the repository before using it.
sudo amazon-linux-extras enable python3.8Issue the commands shown below in the terminal to install Python 3.8 on Amazon Linux 2 server.
sudo yum install python3.8Hit the y key to begin installation of Python 3.8 on Amazon Linux 2 server.
Dependencies Resolved
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Package Arch Version Repository Size
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Installing:
python38 x86_64 3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5 amzn2extra-python3.8 69 k
Installing for dependencies:
python38-libs x86_64 3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5 amzn2extra-python3.8 9.3 M
python38-pip noarch 9.0.3-2.amzn2.0.1 amzn2extra-python3.8 1.9 M
python38-setuptools noarch 38.4.0-4.amzn2.0.1 amzn2extra-python3.8 619 k
Transaction Summary
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Install 1 Package (+3 Dependent packages)
Total download size: 12 M
Installed size: 51 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: yThis is my installation output:
Transaction Summary
==================================================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package (+3 Dependent packages)
Total download size: 12 M
Installed size: 51 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/4): python38-3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5.x86_64.rpm | 69 kB 00:00:01
(2/4): python38-libs-3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5.x86_64.rpm | 9.3 MB 00:00:05
(3/4): python38-pip-9.0.3-2.amzn2.0.1.noarch.rpm | 1.9 MB 00:00:04
(4/4): python38-setuptools-38.4.0-4.amzn2.0.1.noarch.rpm | 619 kB 00:00:01
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Total 1.6 MB/s | 12 MB 00:00:07
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
Installing : python38-pip-9.0.3-2.amzn2.0.1.noarch 1/4
Installing : python38-3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5.x86_64 2/4
Installing : python38-setuptools-38.4.0-4.amzn2.0.1.noarch 3/4
Installing : python38-libs-3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5.x86_64 4/4
Verifying : python38-setuptools-38.4.0-4.amzn2.0.1.noarch 1/4
Verifying : python38-3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5.x86_64 2/4
Verifying : python38-pip-9.0.3-2.amzn2.0.1.noarch 3/4
Verifying : python38-libs-3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5.x86_64 4/4
Installed:
python38.x86_64 0:3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5
Dependency Installed:
python38-libs.x86_64 0:3.8.2-2.amzn2.0.5 python38-pip.noarch 0:9.0.3-2.amzn2.0.1 python38-setuptools.noarch 0:38.4.0-4.amzn2.0.1
Complete!Install from source
If you’re performing this installation at later time when there is a newer release you may find latest version in the extras repository.
For manual installation you need to update system and install dependencies.
sudo yum -y update
sudo yum -y groupinstall "Development Tools"
sudo yum -y install openssl-devel bzip2-devel libffi-develOnce dependencies are installed, you can then download the latest archive of Python 3.8 release.
sudo yum -y install wget
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.12/Python-3.8.12.tgzExtract the package.
tar xvf Python-3.8.12.tgzChange the created directory:
cd Python-3.8*/Setup installation by running the configure script.
./configure --enable-optimizationsInitiate compilation of Python 3.8 on Amazon Linux 2.
sudo make altinstallConfirm installed version of Python:
$ python3.8 --version
Python 3.8.3Setting Default Python version on Amazon Linux 2
The default version of Python available is 2.7 even though we have Python 3.8 installed.
$ python -V
Python 2.7.18You can interactively call Python 3.8 interpreter with python3.8 command:
$ python3.8 -V
Python 3.8.12To set Python 3.8 as default version use the update-alternatives command.
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.8If priority is required use:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.8 1Confirm the new setting.
$ sudo update-alternatives --list | grep python
python auto /usr/bin/python3.8Use python command to check current default version.
$ python -V
Python 3.8.12To reset to Python 2 run the command:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2.7 1Python 3.8 has been installed successfully in our Amazon Linux 2 server.
