How To Install Python 3.9 On Debian 10
In this article, we’ll show you how to install Python 3.9 on Debian 10.
Python 3.9 is the latest major release of the Python language. It includes many new features such as new dict operators, new str functions, support for IANA time zone, and more .
Installing Python 3.9 on Debian 10
Compiling Python from the source allows you to install the latest Python version and customize the build options. However, you won’t be able to maintain your Python installation through the apt package manager.
Building Python 3.9 on Debian is a relatively straightforward process and will only take a few minutes.
Install the dependencies necessary to build Python:
sudo apt updatesudo apt install build-essential zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev libnss3-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev libreadline-dev libffi-dev curl libbz2-dev
Download the latest release’s source code from the Python download page with wget :
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.1/Python-3.9.1.tgz
Once the download is complete, extract the gzipped archive :
tar -xf Python-3.9.1.tgz
Navigate to the Python source directory and execute the configure script:
cd Python-3.9.1./configure --enable-optimizations
The –enable-optimizations option optimizes the Python binary by running multiple tests. This makes the build process slower.
The script runs a number of checks to make sure all of the dependencies on your system are present:
Start the Python 3.9 build process:
make -j 2
For faster build time, modify the -j to correspond to the number of cores in your processor. You can find the number by typing nproc.
When the build process is complete, install the Python binaries by typing:
sudo make altinstall
We’re using altinstall instead of install because later will overwrite the default system python3 binary.
That’s it. Python 3.9 has been installed and ready to be used. To verify it, type:
python3.9 --version
The output should show the Python version:
Python 3.9.1
Conclusion
We’ve shown you how to install Python 3.9 on your Debian 10 system. You can now create a virtual environment and start developing your Python projects.
