[Tutor] python update

[Mats Wichmann]

On 1/14/22 14:25, Jessica Jones via Tutor wrote:
> hi
> 
> i have installed python in windows. I see there are many updates all the time
> Can my python update itself or do i have to uinstall it, download it, reinstall it each time again?

The python.org version will do micro updates in place (e.g. 3.10.1 to
3.10.2) - that is, you don't have to uninstall first. But you do need to
initiate the download and install.

The Microsoft Store version of Python updates the same way as the other
store apps do - through the store client app.

For both, you do have to manually initiate a new minor version (that is,
going from 3.10 to 3.11). This is because such versions are designed to
be able to coexist (I have a test system with all of 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8,
3.9, 3.10, and 3.11-alpha installed for backwards-compatibility testing.
 3.5 and 3.6 are end-of-life now so I'll probably get rid of those next
time I'm doing some cleanup there).

You can also install Python other ways - chocolatey.org is another
approach.  For that one, choco can tell you when apps are out of date,
and you can install new versions through it.

New minor versions happen only once a year.  Micro versions are roughly
every 2-3 months, depending on whether an important problem accelerates
the cadence.