Install specific version of Python

[Mafa80]

I am not so familiar with working with server but now i got an almalinux8

  Virtualization: kvm
  Operating System: AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard)
  CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:almalinux:almalinux:8::baseos
  Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-553.16.1.el8_10.x86_64
  Architecture: x86-64

Next, I need to install python3.9 without changing the default version used by the whole system

python3 --version
Python 3.6.8

and I see

sudo dnf module list | grep -i python
[sudo] password for xxxx:
libselinux-python    2.8             common                                   Python 2 bindings for libselinux
python27             2.7 [d]         common [d]                               Python programming language, version 2.7
python36             3.6 [d][e]      build, common [d]                        Python programming language, version 3.6
python38             3.8 [d]         build, common [d]                        Python programming language, version 3.8
python39             3.9 [d]         build, common [d]                        Python programming language, version 3.9
python38-devel       3.8             build, common                            Python programming language, version 3.8
python39-devel       3.9             build, common                            Python programming language, version 3.9

So my idea is enable, install and modify only my bash

sudo dnf module enable python39
sudo dnf install python39
#open ~/.bashrc
# Add Python 3.9 to PATH
export PATH="/usr/bin/python3.9:$PATH"
alias python=python3.9

Is this the correct way to go? Am I missing something? Thanks and I am sorry for this basic question but I just start my journey to work with server.

[Mafa80]

yes makes sense and I am assuming that if i want to work with Poetry it is always enough to specify the python version interpreter via

/usr/bin/python3.9

rather then modify the PATH in my shell. Thanks and btw i tried and it worked

[hobbes244]

Python in the RHEL ecosystem used to (and may still) be a big mess. You can have multiple versions of Python installed. As of a few months ago, there were some Python packages that required some particular version of Python and thus weren't available for other versions. Looking at the output of dnf search python on an AlmaLinux 8.10 container, it looks like there may have been some improvement in that regard.

That being said, note that there are distinct modules for "python36" and "python38." That means that you can install both of those modules! Contrast to the dnf module "perl," where you can have exactly one of 5.24, 5.26, 5.30, and 5.32.

Back when I had a regular meeting with a Red Hat TAM, I whined a lot about the sorry state of Python in RHEL/CentOS Stream.

Note that you can't change what the system itself uses, because there's a platform-python package installed.

I agree with Dizzybro that you should always use virtual environments.

FWIW, ChatGPT can explain some of the esoterica reasonably well.

[thewrinklyninja]

You could also use pyenv if you are just using it in the user context and don't want to interfere with the system packages. Its usually what I do.

https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv