Install Python#

These instructions describe how to install Python on a Linux server. Posit professional products require multiple versions of Python. These instructions install Python appropriately from pre-compiled binaries.

Install required dependencies#

To install the necessary runtime dependencies for Python, you must enable additional repositories for third-party or source packages by using the following commands:

$ sudo dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm

$ sudo subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-$(arch)-rpms

# enable the CodeReady Linux Builder repository from Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) 
$ sudo dnf install dnf-plugins-core
$ sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-*-rpms

$ sudo yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

$ sudo subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms

# enable the CodeReady Linux Builder repository from Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) 
$ sudo dnf install dnf-plugins-core
$ sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled "codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-*-rpms"

$ sudo yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm 

$ sudo subscription-manager repos --enable "rhel-*-optional-rpms"

# Optional repository from Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI)
$ sudo yum install yum-utils
$ sudo yum-config-manager --enable "rhel-*-optional-rpms"

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install gdebi-core

Specify Python Version#

$ export PYTHON_VERSION="3.9.14"

$ export PYTHON_VERSION=3.X.X

Download and install Python#

Download and install the desired version of Python.

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/rhel-9/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo yum install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/centos-8/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo yum install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/centos-7/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo yum install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/ubuntu-2204/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb
$ sudo gdebi python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/ubuntu-2004/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb
$ sudo gdebi python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/ubuntu-1804/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb
$ sudo gdebi python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/debian-11/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb
$ sudo gdebi python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/debian-10/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb
$ sudo gdebi python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/opensuse-154/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo zypper --no-gpg-checks install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

$ curl -O https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/opensuse-153/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo zypper --no-gpg-checks install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

Verify Python installation#

Verify that Python is installed by running the following command:

$ /opt/python/"${PYTHON_VERSION}"/bin/python --version

Upgrade Required Python Tools#

Connect requires that users have updated versions of some built-in Python tools. To upgrade the required tools, run the following command:

$ /opt/python/"${PYTHON_VERSION}"/bin/pip install --upgrade \
    pip setuptools wheel

(Optional) Configure a PyPI repository#

You can specify a default PyPI mirror for all installations of Python by creating a pip configuration file. This can be useful if you are using an internal PyPI mirror such as Posit Package Manager:

To do so, create a file located at /etc/pip.conf containing:

[global]
index-url = https://example.company.com/pypi/latest

Replace https://example.company.com/pypi/latest with the URL for your PyPI mirror, available in Package Manager on the "Setup" page of your PyPI repository.

(Optional) Add Python to the system PATH#

The recommended method to add Python to the PATH is to append the version of Python that you installed to the system-wide PATH variable. For example, this can be defined in a script within the /etc/profile.d/ directory:

PATH=/opt/python/"${PYTHON_VERSION}"/bin:$PATH

(Optional) Make Python available as a Jupyter Kernel#

For Workbench, you can make the version of Python installed available for use in Jupyter by running these commands:

sudo /opt/python/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/pip install ipykernel
sudo /opt/python/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/python -m ipykernel install --name py${PYTHON_VERSION} --display-name "Python ${PYTHON_VERSION}"

(Optional) Install multiple versions of Python#

If you want to install multiple versions of Python on the same server, you can repeat these steps to specify, download, and install a different version of Python alongside existing versions.

Additional information#

Refer to the rstudio/python-builds repository on GitHub for more information on these binary distributions of Python.

Follow these steps to install Python from source.