Python is one of the most popular and easy to code programming language nowadays, because of its simplicity and easy to code. It is now very popular among beginners and experienced computer programmers or developers.

It is use to develop any kinds of software/applications using simple and few lines of code for complex machine learning algorithms also.

The major release version of Python is 3.8 these days. It has included many features like Positional-only parameters, f-strings support, Parallel filesystem cache and many more.

The Python 3.8 version is not included in default Debian repository. So, In this tutorial, we will show you the different ways to install Python on Debian 9 Linux system.

In the first process, we will use the deb package from deadsnakes  PPA, and in the second process, we will install Python using source.

Install Python 3 on Debian 9 with the apt package manager

To install Python 3 with apt is very simple, and it will install in very few steps only.

Step 1 – First update the package list on Debian and install prerequisites to install Python on Debian using the following commands:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install software-properties-common

Step 2 – Now, need to add the deadsnakes PPA to the running Debian system by using below command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

Step 3 – When new repository gets enabled, update the package list once again and install Python using the following commands:

$ sudo apt install python3.8

Step 4 – After installing the Python, we can verify it by checking the version of installed Python:

$ python3.8 --version

output:
Python 3.8.0

If your screen also showing output like above, means Python 3.8 is installed successfully on your Debian system.

Installing Python 3.8 on Debian 9 from source

In this method, we will explain the process to install Python 3.8 on Debian 9 Linux using source.

Step 1 – In the first step, update the repository package list and install dependencies to build Python on Debian, using the following command:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install build-essential zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev libnss3-dev libssl-dev libreadline-dev libffi-dev libsqlite3-dev wget libbz2-dev

Step 2 – Now download Python 3.8 source code from the Python download page by using wget command, as shown below:

$ wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.0/Python-3.8.0.tgz

Step 3 – after download source package extracts the gzipped file using the following command:

$ tar -xf Python-3.8.0.tgz

Step 4 – Now enter into the new extracted Python source directory and run the configure script to check the system compatibilities, and dependencies to build Python on your system.

$ cd Python-3.8.0
$ ./configure --enable-optimizations

Using --enable-optimizations option to optimize Python binary by running multiple tests, this process may take a longer time.

Step 5 – Now, we can start Python 3.8 build process using make command as shown below:

$ make -j 8

Step 6 – After completing the build process, you can install Python binaries by using the following command:

$ sudo make altinstall

Step 7 – Now, Python 3.8 is installed in your system; you can verify it by checking the version of Python using the following command:

$ python3.8 --version

The output will show in your screen similar like below:

output:
Python 3.8.0

Conclusion

You have learned to install Python in your Debian 9 system using two different methods, one is using deadsnakes repository, and another one is using source. Now, your system is ready to develop various python projects.

If you have any questions or doubt on this article, please comment below.