[Tutor] Wish to upgrade Python 3.6.5 to Python 3.6.6 for Linux Mint 19

[Mats Wichmann]

On 07/15/2018 12:38 AM, boB Stepp wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 11:52 PM boB Stepp <robertvstepp at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 8:43 PM boB Stepp <robertvstepp at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 8:23 PM Mats Wichmann <mats at wichmann.us> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> take a look at pyenv. should make it fairly easy.
>>>>
>>>> https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv
>>>
>>> This does look interesting.  On the linked page, after installing and
>>> configuring pyenv, it says to install Python as follows giving a 2.7.8
>>> example:
>>>
>>> $ pyenv install 2.7.8
>>>
>>> Where and how does it get its Python installation?
>>
>> After a lot of searching, I'm still not sure how pyenv is working its
>> magic.  On https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv/wiki it says:
>>
>> "pyenv will try its best to download and compile the wanted Python version, ..."
>>
>> This suggests that it is getting the source from somewhere
>> (python.org/downloads ?) and then compiling it locally.  Is this what
>> it actually does?
> 
> After too much fruitless searching I finally found a more direct
> confirmation of what I was suspecting to be true at
> 
> "In contrast, with PyEnv, you install a Python. This can be a version
> of CPython, PyPy, IronPython, Jython, Pyston, stackless, miniconda, or
> even Anaconda. It downloads the sources from the official repos, and
> compiles them on your machine [1]. Plus, it provides an easy and
> transparent way of switching between installed versions (including any
> system-installed versions). After that, you use Python's own venv and
> pip."
> 
> This sounds like exactly what I need!  Thanks for this, Mats!!  I will
> give it a whirl later today after I wake up.
> 

Right... sorry for not following up sooner, it tries to download and
build a Python from sources, while not messing with the system-installed
Python.