2 Installing Python

To install Python 3.6 on an Oracle Linux 8 system:

sudo dnf install python3

The python3 command points to Python 3.6 if it's installed on the system. To verify that behavior, run the following command:

python3 --version

The python command isn't aliased by default in Oracle Linux 8. Specify the Python interpreter version with the python3 command when you run Python scripts.

If you need to alias the python command to fix compatibility problems with existing scripts and applications, you can set it manually. For example, to set Python 3 as the default interpreter version, run the following command:

sudo alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python3

For more information about using the python command, see the python(1) manual page.

Note:

Python 3.6 is maintained for the full lifespan of Oracle Linux 8.

Application Stream packages, such as Python 2.7 and more recent versions of Python 3, have their own major version releases and have shorter maintenance lifespans. For more information, see Oracle Linux: Product Life Cycle Information.

If the system is running Oracle Linux 8.8 or later, you can optionally also install Python 3.11:

sudo dnf install python3.11

If the system is running Oracle Linux 8.10 or later, you can optionally also install Python 3.12:

sudo dnf install python3.12

The python3 command is aliased to Python 3.6 by default, so for newer versions of Python 3 you must explicitly reference the correct binary. For example, the following command verifies that Python 3.12 is installed on the system:

python3.12 --version

Or you can edit the default Python 3 version by using the alternatives command. For example, to remap the python3 command to use Python 3.12, run the following command:

sudo alternatives --set python3 /usr/bin/python3.12

Don't uninstall Python 3.6 after making that change, as the command must be reverted when the newer version of Python 3 reaches the end of its maintenance lifespan. Keeping Python 3.6 in place also ensures that the command can be reverted to troubleshoot or resolve problems with systems and components in Oracle Linux 8 that were tested against Python 3.6.

Installing Extra Python Libraries

You can also install extra dependencies from the Oracle Linux yum server. For example, to install the requests library for the default runtime version of Python 3, you would install the python3-requests package:

sudo dnf install python3-requests

To install dependency packages for specific Python versions, add the runtime version to the package name. For example, to install the requests library for Python 3.12, run the following command:

sudo dnf install python3.12-requests

Dependencies that are installed in this way are available for any compatible Python installations on the same system. In addition, any matching packages can also be removed without also removing existing Python installations.