How to Install Python 3.6.1 on CentOS/RHEL & Fedora

Introduction

Python is a powerful programming language. It is very friendly and easy to learn. At writing time of this article Python 3.6.1 latest stable version is available to download and install. This tutorial will help you to install Python 3.6.1 on your CentOS, Red Hat & Fedora operating systems.

Requirements

This Python installation required GCC compiler on your system. Login to your server using ssh or shell access. Now, use the following command to install prerequisites for Python before installing it.

# yum install gcc

• Read: How to Use SSH to Connect Remote Linux Server

Download Python 3.6

Download Python using the following command from python official site. You can also download the latest version in place of specified below.

# cd /usr/src
# wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.6.1/Python-3.6.1.tgz

Now extract the downloaded package.

# tar xzf Python-3.6.1.tgz

Install Python 3.6

Use below set of commands to compile python source code on your system using altinstall.

# cd Python-3.6.1
# ./configure
# make altinstall

make altinstall is used to prevent replacing the default python binary file /usr/bin/python .

Now remove downloaded source archive file from your system

# rm Python-3.6.1.tgz

Check Python Version

Check the latest version installed of python using below command

# python3.6 -V

Python 3.6.1