How to Install Python 2.7 or Python 3.6 and Setup Virtual Environment on CentOS 6

This tutorial will help you install Python 2.7 and Python 3.6, as well as setup Virtualenv on CentOS 6.

Virtualenv is a tool to create isolated Python environments which can keep the dependencies required by different projects in separate folders.

Install Prerequisites

Update the operating system to the latest kernel.

[root@vultr ~]# yum update
<some_output>
Is this ok [y/N]: y

Install development tools.

[root@vultr ~]# yum groupinstall -y 'development tools'

Install required packages.

[root@vultr ~]# yum install -y zlib-devel bzip2-devel openssl-devel ncurses-devel sqlite-devel readline-devel tk-devel gdbm-devel db4-devel libpcap-devel xz-devel

Build Python 2.7 From Source

Download the latest source code and extract it.

[root@vultr opt]# cd /opt/ & wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.13/Python-2.7.13.tgz && tar xvf Python-2.7.13.tgz

Compile Python source code.

[root@vultr opt]# cd Python-2.7.13
[root@vultr Python-2.7.13]# ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-unicode=ucs4 --enable-shared LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath /usr/local/lib"

Create and install Python binaries.

[root@vultr Python-2.7.13]# make && make altinstall

Add Python to search PATH.

[root@vultr Python-2.7.13]# export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

Build Python 3.6 From Source

Download the latest source code and extract it.

[root@vultr opt]# cd /opt/ && wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.6.2/Python-3.6.2.tgz && tar xvf Python-3.6.2.tgz

Compile Python source code.

[root@vultr opt]# cd Python-3.6.2
[root@vultr Python-3.6.2]# ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-unicode=ucs4 --enable-shared LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath /usr/local/lib"

Create and install Python binaries.

[root@vultr Python-3.6.2]# make && make altinstall

Add Python to search PATH.

[root@vultr Python-3.6.2]# export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

Install Pip, Setuptools, and Virtualenv for Python 2.7

Python-3.6 has Pip built-in, which can be accessed using the command pip3.4.

Download the setuptools and Pip installation script for Python-2.7.

[root@vultr]# cd /tmp/
[root@vultr tmp]# wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
[root@vultr tmp]# python2.7 get-pip.py --prefix=/usr/local/

Install Virtualenv.

[root@vultr tmp]# pip2.7 install virtualenv

Conclusion

You can now use the commands python2.7 and python3.6 to run your scripts. If you need to install any new packages, you can do that with pip2.7 install package_name and pip3.6 install package_name.