Multiple Python locations? I do not know why they are there?

[victor47]

Hello everyone! Sorry for taking up your time.

I'm new to Linux in general. I've only been using it full time within the last month or so.

I've been digging into the my file system and at the same time reading the FHS documentation.

I've come across something that confuses me. I seem to have multiple Python installations. I remember I installed 3.8.2 sometime ago.

I thought that it was the only installation of Python.

Then after snooping around my file system (Ubuntu Budgie) and what I found was the following.

I saw that within the /usr/lib directory I found:
python2.7
python3
python3.8

I did not understand why there were so many. The 2.7 isn't as important to me as much as the python3 and python3.8

when you go inside python3 you find a directory called "dist-packages" with a bunch of modules. I could not find documentation on this directory.

inside of python3.8 it seems to have the standard library modules.

Now if you go into /usr/local/lib you will find the same directory with same files plus a few more that aren't in the previous directory.

I thought that perhaps the python3.8 in the /usr/lib is a symbolic link to /usr/local/lib but when you run a

ls -al

on the /usr/lib directory

You see that it is its own directory and not a symbolic link.

This in general has me confused because when I run either python3 OR python3.8 I'll get the same python interpreter version.

I don't know which directory the system is really using whenever I run python3 or python3.8



Is there a way for me to see which directory the system uses when I run the python interpreter.?

Also would there be a way for me to remove one of the installations?

[wildmanne39]

Thread moved to General Help for a more appropriate fit.

[CatKiller]

I've been digging into the my file system and at the same time reading the FHS documentation.

That's not going to help you as much as you imagine it will.

I seem to have multiple Python installations.

You'll have multiple lots of things. The alternatives system is how they're managed.

For the specific case of python, Python 3 is not backwards compatible with Python 2, people called "python" when they meant Python 2, and Python 2 is dead. It was quite a mess. Python 2 is no longer (as of 20.04) included in a default Ubuntu install, which was a lot of work since Python is used by a lot of architectural things, like package management. You can still install Python 2 if you need it, but it's been bumped to the Universe repository.

Is there a way for me to see which directory the system uses when I run the python interpreter.?

which python
which python3
ls -l /usr/bin/python
ls -l /usr/bin/python3

[noob-at-linux]

There can be multiple python packages because it may be required by other packages to run. It doesn't mean that it is important. But python2 is obsolete by now so I don't know why is it still there.
Yes you can see which interpreter you are using when using python. Just type python3.* or any version you have and press enter. It will start python interpreter and it will also show you the version you are using.
If you want to use different python versions you can type python3.* or python3 file.py to use specific interpreter. The program will be interepreted according to interpreter used by you. If you are using ubuntu 20.04 don't delete python3.8.
Sorry for my bad english.

[TheFu]

I’d bet that python3 and python3.8 are either hardlinks or one is a symbolic link to the other. There are wikipedia articles for both topics.

For developers using python, the best practice is NOT to use the system versions, but to install the specific versions using something like pyenv so you can switch between the versions as needed. Ruby and Perl have similar tools and best practices too.

Python2 is not obsolete and won't be for 15 yrs. The code being used in the world determine that, not some group of devs chasing the new-shiny thing every year. There are cobol programs written in the 1970s still running billing programs for many companies today. Python2 will last that long too, probably.

[CatKiller]

Python2 is not obsolete and won't be for 15 yrs.

https://www.python.org/doc/sunset-python-2/

We have decided that January 1, 2020, was the day that we sunset Python 2. That means that we will not improve it anymore after that day, even if someone finds a security problem in it. You should upgrade to Python 3 as soon as you can.
...
We released Python 2.0 in 2000. We realized a few years later that we needed to make big changes to improve Python. So in 2006, we started Python 3.0. Many people did not upgrade, and we did not want to hurt them. So, for many years, we have kept improving and publishing both Python 2 and Python 3.
...
We did not want to hurt the people using Python 2. So, in 2008, we announced that we would sunset Python 2 in 2015, and asked people to upgrade before then. Some did, but many did not. So, in 2014, we extended that sunset till 2020.
...
If people find catastrophic security problems in Python 2, or in software written in Python 2, then most volunteers will not help fix them. If you need help with Python 2 software, then many volunteers will not help you, and over time fewer and fewer volunteers will be able to help you.

It is definitely obsolete, and it's already had 12 years on life support.

[mIk3_08]

Also would there be a way for me to remove one of the installations?

Since Python3 is not backwards-compatible and a lot of complex libraries are not yet ported to python3, I think this might not be a good idea for now.
even though Python2 officially Hits End of Life, but not fully ended its life. If you try to remove it, that would be a risk.
Remember, Python3 is not backwards-compatible.

[sisco311]

when you go inside python3 you find a directory called "dist-packages" with a bunch of modules. I could not find documentation on this directory.

There is a README.txt file in the directory

cat /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/README.txt 
This directory exists so that 3rd party packages can be installed
here.  Read the source for site.py for more details.

You can use `dpkg-query --search filename' to search for packages that own a file.

dpkg-query --search /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/README.txt
dpkg-query --search /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/

The first command will give you a hint where you can find the site.py file
and the second one will list all the packages on your system which use the dist-packages directory.

EDIT:
I'm not familiar with python, but I hope this points you in the right direction.

[Impavidus]

I've come across something that confuses me. I seem to have multiple Python installations. I remember I installed 3.8.2 sometime ago.

I thought that it was the only installation of Python.

Then after snooping around my file system (Ubuntu Budgie) and what I found was the following.

I saw that within the /usr/lib directory I found:
python2.7
python3
python3.8

I did not understand why there were so many. The 2.7 isn't as important to me as much as the python3 and python3.8

when you go inside python3 you find a directory called "dist-packages" with a bunch of modules. I could not find documentation on this directory.

inside of python3.8 it seems to have the standard library modules.

Now if you go into /usr/local/lib you will find the same directory with same files plus a few more that aren't in the previous directory.

On Ubuntu 20.04, Python 3.8 is vital. You can't have a working Ubuntu 20.04 without Python 3.8, so it must have been installed already. Python 2.7 is no longer installed by default, but may be installed from the package manager and may be there if you upgraded from a previous release of Ubuntu. Python 3.8 is a form of Python 3, so not a different version.

/usr/local/lib only contains a few empty directories and stuff you installed yourself without using the Ubuntu package manager. It never contains vital stuff, but you can use it to install extensions.

Since Python3 is not backwards-compatible and a lot of complex libraries are not yet ported to python3, I think this might not be a good idea for now.
even though Python2 officially Hits End of Life, but not fully ended its life. If you try to remove it, that would be a risk.
Remember, Python3 is not backwards-compatible.

On Ubuntu 20.04, nothing vital depends on Python 2.7. All vital software on Ubuntu 20.04 that uses Python has been ported to Python 3.

[victor47]

Thank you guys for all your answers, it really helped.