Build Python from Source on Centos

I’ve been getting back into learning and using Python recently. This is a quick post on how to compile and install Python 3.7 on Centos 7. In this case I’ll be using a Centos Docker container.

First we need to install the development tools. This installs the tools we will need in order to compile python from source.

# yum groupinstall -y "Development Tools"
# yum install -y zlib-devel

Next we want to switch directory to where we will download the python source code:

# cd /usr/src

Next we want to download the python package using wget:

wget ht tps://python.org/ftp/pthon/3.7.3/Python-3.7.3.tar.xz

OK, with that done we need to unpack the python package:

tar xf Python-3.7.3.tar.xz

Now, switch directory to the newly created ‘Python-3.7.3’ directory. You should see a bunch of files:

[root@ef0c0ef422d7 Python-3.7.3]# ls
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.rst  Include  Mac              Modules  PCbuild   Python      aclocal.m4    configure     m4
Doc                  LICENSE  Makefile.pre.in  Objects  Parser    README.rst  config.guess  configure.ac  pyconfig.h.in
Grammar              Lib      Misc             PC       Programs  Tools       config.sub    install-sh    setup.py

Now we can compile the package with the following two commands:

./configure --enable-optimizations --with-ensurepip=install
make altinstall

Once the process completes we can run Python 3.7 by running:

[root@ef0c0ef422d7 Python-3.7.3]# python3.7
Python 3.7.3 (default, Jan 15 2020, 15:07:41) 
[GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-39)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 

Now you’re ready to do some Python coding!!