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I have installed the Python IDE Spyder. For me it's a great development environment. Some how in this process I have managed to install three versions of Python on my system.These can be located as following:

  1. Version 2.7.6 from the OS X Terminal;
  2. Version 2.7.8 from the Spyder Console; and
  3. Version 2.7.9rc1 from an IDL window.

The problem I have is (I think) that the multiple versions are preventing Spyder from working correctly.

So how do I confirm that 2.7.6 is the latest version supported by Apple and is there a simple way ('silver bullet') to remove other versions from my system.

I hope this is the correct forum for this question. If not I would appreciate suggestions where I could go for help.

I want to keep my life simple and to develop python software in the Spyder IDE. I am not an OS X guru and I really don't want to get into a heavy duty command line action. To that end I just want to delete/uninstall the 'unofficial versions' of Python. Surely there must be an easy way to do this - perhaps 'pip uninstall Python-2.7.9rc1' or some such. The problem is that I am hesitant to try this due to the fear that it will crash my system. Help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Chrise123
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  • possible duplicate of [Official multiple python versions on the same machine?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2547554/official-multiple-python-versions-on-the-same-machine) – Vaibhav Mule Apr 21 '15 at 02:23

1 Answers1

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(Spyder dev here) There is no simple way to do what you ask for, at least for the Python version that comes with Spyder.

I imagine you downloaded and installed our DMG package. That package comes with its own Python version as part of the application (along with several important scientific packages), so it can't be removed because that would imply to remove Spyder itself :-)

I don't know how you installed IDL(E?), so I can't advise you on how to remove it.

Carlos Cordoba
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  • I used pip to uninstall Spyder and IDL and this seemed to remove all but the OS X version 2.7.6.I then downloaded the Spyder DMG again which came with Python 2.7.9. This was no help as the new Spyder was updated with all my previous Spyder information, including the PATH and .py scripts that I keep in a Documents folder. So, how do I remove all links to my previous Spyder activity so I can get a clean install of Spyder, which hopefully will allow me to start again with a clean slate? – Chrise123 Apr 24 '15 at 10:59
  • To remove Spyder previous settings you need to: 1) close Spyder, 2) open a terminal and run: `rm -Rf ~/.spyder2`, and 3) restart Spyder again. That will give you a fresh start. – Carlos Cordoba Apr 24 '15 at 18:46
  • About the OS X Python version: please don't attempt to remove it!! It's a default program in all Macs and (I think) some parts of the operating system depend on it too. – Carlos Cordoba Apr 24 '15 at 18:46
  • Great, it worked! I am sure this 'silver bullet' is documented somewhere I didn't look, but it leaves me wondering why such a good product like Spyder doesn't have a (well warned) reset button. Anyway thanks for the assist! – Chrise123 Apr 25 '15 at 05:58