Install Python 3.7 on CentOS with all dependencies

In this post, I will go through installing Python 3.7 and all its dependencies on CentOS. Unlike Ubuntu, Python is not readily accessible using ‘yum’ package manager on CentOS. Therefore, we first need to install a few packages before installing Python.

$ sudo yum groupinstall -y "Development Tools"

$ sudo yum install –y gcc zlib-devel bzip2 bzip2-devel readline-devel sqlite sqlite-devel openssl-devel tk-devel libffi-devel xz-devel gdbm-devel ncurses-devel db4-devel wget

Now that we installed all the dependencies, we need to download the latest Python from its website, https://www.python.org/downloads/:

$ wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.7.4/Python-3.7.4.tgz

Then, we need to extract the files from the archive and configure the installation:

$ tar -xzvf Python-3.7.4.tgz

$ sudo sh Python-3.7.4/configure --enable-optimizations

Finally, we run the following command to install Python:

$ sudo make altinstall

Your Python is now installed in the following folder: /usr/local/bin/

Optionally, you can make a link to access your Python using python3 command:

$ sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python3

$ sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/pip3.7 /usr/bin/pip3

Note, if you cannot access Python by typing “python3”, you may need to add the following line to your .bashrc file:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/

Note: Your .bashrc is located in your home folder.

Now, disconnect and then connect back to your machine.

Please let me know if you had any questions or concerns in the comment section.