User profile for user: westred
westred Author
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Apple default python

I have Mac OS Ventura 13.0.1. I have installed python and am deinstalling python 3.9 and 3.10 (to upgrade). About a year ago, with Catalina, the MacOS stopped using python 2.


Just posting here to as reference to ask for problems that people have with installing or deinstalling Python 3 on a Mac.

How would I know if the Python version I have is in use by the Mac OS or whether it will cause issues to deinstall an older python 3 version?

Additionally curious for experiences with using the python default installer versus homebrew- this may be too big of a topic. I have been using the default Python installer and it has worked pretty well.


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.0

Posted on Feb 21, 2023 11:07 AM

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
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119,783 points

Posted on Feb 21, 2023 12:10 PM

When Apple stopped including Python2 with macOS 12.3, they had already (with one Automator action exception) had no operating system or applications dependent on Python2. Python3 was never packaged with macOS and still is not in Ventura 13.2.1.


I install Python 3.11.2 (current) from Python.org as a mac-friendly universal2 package installer. That is the only Python distribution source I recommend.


That places appropriate links from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.11/bin into /usr/local/bin, including python3, idle3, pip3, etc. It also installs a folder in /Applications/Python 3.11. This installation process does not/cannot step on any System Python binaries or modules as they are gone already. This remains true even when one installs the Command Line Tools for Xcode which installs Python3 (3.96) elsewhere.


I create virtual environments where I can isolate specific Python package installation for a given project, rather than toss all packages into primary Python 3 distribution location.


Although I discretely use the homebrew package manager, and some of the package dependencies want Python3 installed, homebrew will not step on existing Python3 links in /usr/local/bin provided by the Python.org installer, and that is fortunate.

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
119,783 points

Feb 21, 2023 12:10 PM in response to westred

When Apple stopped including Python2 with macOS 12.3, they had already (with one Automator action exception) had no operating system or applications dependent on Python2. Python3 was never packaged with macOS and still is not in Ventura 13.2.1.


I install Python 3.11.2 (current) from Python.org as a mac-friendly universal2 package installer. That is the only Python distribution source I recommend.


That places appropriate links from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.11/bin into /usr/local/bin, including python3, idle3, pip3, etc. It also installs a folder in /Applications/Python 3.11. This installation process does not/cannot step on any System Python binaries or modules as they are gone already. This remains true even when one installs the Command Line Tools for Xcode which installs Python3 (3.96) elsewhere.


I create virtual environments where I can isolate specific Python package installation for a given project, rather than toss all packages into primary Python 3 distribution location.


Although I discretely use the homebrew package manager, and some of the package dependencies want Python3 installed, homebrew will not step on existing Python3 links in /usr/local/bin provided by the Python.org installer, and that is fortunate.

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Apple default python

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