2. Using Python on Unix platforms

2.1. Getting and installing the latest version of Python

2.1.1. On Linux

Python comes preinstalled on most Linux distributions, and is available as a package on all others. However there are certain features you might want to use that are not available on your distro's package. You can easily compile the latest version of Python from source.

In the event that Python doesn't come preinstalled and isn't in the repositories as well, you can easily make packages for your own distro. Have a look at the following links:

2.1.2. On FreeBSD and OpenBSD

  • FreeBSD users, to add the package use:

    pkg install python3
    
  • OpenBSD users, to add the package use:

    pkg_add -r python
    
    pkg_add ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.2/packages/<insert your architecture here>/python-<version>.tgz
    

    For example i386 users get the 2.5.1 version of Python using:

    pkg_add ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.2/packages/i386/python-2.5.1p2.tgz
    

2.1.3. On OpenSolaris

You can get Python from OpenCSW. Various versions of Python are available and can be installed with e.g. pkgutil -i python27.

2.2. Building Python

If you want to compile CPython yourself, first thing you should do is get the source. You can download either the latest release's source or just grab a fresh clone. (If you want to contribute patches, you will need a clone.)

构建过程由常用命令组成:

./configure
make
make install

特定Unix平台的配置选项和注意事项通常记录在Python源代码的根目录下的 README.rst 文件中。

警告

make install can overwrite or masquerade the python3 binary. make altinstall is therefore recommended instead of make install since it only installs exec_prefix/bin/pythonversion.

2.4. Miscellaneous

To easily use Python scripts on Unix, you need to make them executable, e.g. with

$ chmod +x script

and put an appropriate Shebang line at the top of the script. A good choice is usually

#!/usr/bin/env python3

which searches for the Python interpreter in the whole PATH. However, some Unices may not have the env command, so you may need to hardcode /usr/bin/python3 as the interpreter path.

To use shell commands in your Python scripts, look at the subprocess module.