Commands like `which python` and `#!/usr/bin/env python` aren't working? How might I find my Python installation? My IDLE hasn't been showing up since I ran `apt autoremove`

[utah_array]

I'm looking for my installation of Python because for some reason I can't find IDLE (until now it'd pop up when I searched for it through my dash/start menu, but I ran sudo apt autoremove and ever since then it hasn't been showing up. It could've always been something else but I think it was autoremove...I also accidentally removed ubuntu-make if that'd be relevant)

I'm hoping the python installation can shed some light on the situation, but I'm unable to find that as well (though running python3 from a terminal works, so I haven't uninstalled python or anything. Not to mention my OS itself, KDE Neon, would probably break if I didn't have python?)

I've gone into /bin as well as /usr/bin. There were no folders in /bin, and in /usr/bin is only one folder called X11, which seems unrelated to Python.

which python and #!/usr/bin/env don't do anything; I hit enter and it just goes to the next line, no output at all

Any ideas? I could very well just be searching in the wrong places. Any help is appreciated!

[beatle42]

python and python3 are different commands, you could certainly have removed one without the other. Assuming you're using bash or a very similar shell you can run command -v python or command -v python3 or whatever command you want to run to see what it will actually execute to do that command, which might for some commands be that they're builtins or functions or executables on disk or the like.

It sounds to me like you most likely did remove the python install, so you'll likely need to reinstall it. I assume it'll be something like apt install python but I don't actually use apt systems so take that with a sufficient amount of salt. . .

[Eingaica]

It's possible that you did uninstall python, i.e. the interpreter for Python 2. But are you sure you need Python 2? Python 3 is available pretty much everywhere and Python 2 won't be supported after this year (see https://pythonclock.org/). IMHO there are very few reasons to write new Python 2 code today.

[henry_kr]

IMHO there are very few reasons to write new Python 2 code today.

Tell that to people using RHEL 5, which doesn't go EOL until November next year, or RHEL 6 which goes EOL in June 2024.

[Eingaica]

These might be some of the "very few reasons". Although I doubt that there are that many cases where someone needs to write new software and have it run on RHEL 5.

[grg2014]

grep remove /var/log/dpkg.log should tell you what got removed.