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I am trying to set up a Python development environment. I have Python 2.7.3 running on Linux Mint 14. I downloaded IDLE and installed it. It clean installs and Python runs just fine.

So how do I invoke IDLE? There isn't any IDLE in my path: which idle returns nothing. man idle returns nothing pertaining to an editor. Nothing in /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib. Calling idle() inside the Python interpreter doesn't work. Invoking python brings up a shell, not IDLE. No menu entry for IDLE in Linux. No import library named IDLE that Python can find. Three O'Reilly books consulted and not a word about invoking IDLE in Linux. YouTube videos of Python favor Windows, not Linux. Web searches have so far been unsuccessful.

Peter Mortensen
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capngp
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    Welcome to SO! Please keep questions here limited to one topic (IDLE or ERIC). Also, keep in mind that not everyone here is a gentleman. You also don't mention which Linux distribution you are using – Ned Deily Dec 31 '12 at 05:35
  • Ned, Single question noted. Perhaps you could suggest an appropriate salutation. Line 2: Mint 14. Thanks, Pete – capngp Dec 31 '12 at 05:42
  • After getting acclimated here, you'll notice that a salutation is neither needed nor preferred. – Ned Deily Dec 31 '12 at 05:50
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    A text editor, an interpreter, and thou. ;) – Keith Dec 31 '12 at 07:33
  • How did you installed it? – Braiam Jun 25 '16 at 18:10
  • Similar (duplicate?): *[Start IDLE with Python 3 on Linux (Python 2.7 installed alongside)](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11856802/)*. But isn't there an older canonical question? – Peter Mortensen Feb 23 '23 at 08:08

1 Answers1

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I'm not familiar with Mint myself, but since it claims to be Debian-based, try installing the idle package:

sudo apt-get install idle

That should pull in all the appropriate packages for the installed version of Python. Then you should just be able to start IDLE with:

idle

in a terminal window.

Peter Mortensen
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Ned Deily
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