Mutliple Python installs necessary?

Question

So I've read this thread python location on mac osx

but still a couple questions

running

$ which -a python python3

returns

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python
/usr/local/bin/python
/usr/bin/python

and just

$which python

returns

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python

And I also have Python installed here which isn't on my PATH

/Users/foo/Library/Python/2.7/bin

Does this mean I can safely delete ALL python binaries except for the one returned by the which Python command? I just don't understand the necessity of multiple Python installs if you don't need multiple versions.

Why do you need to delete the binaries? It's a way to problems with your installation. — warvariuc, May 29 '19 at 14:55
Note that those "extra installs" might just be symlinks to a single "real" install. — 0x5453, May 29 '19 at 14:59

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 29 '19 at 14:59

Do not delete the default python installation that comes with the OS, you will break your system, that Pythons are necessary for the right functionality of the OS, don't mess with them, if you want to develop your own projects, better use pyenv (https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv) or similar tools to manage independent Python installations and/or versions, also to manage a virtual environment.

Never touch pre-installed binaries, unless you want to break your system.

Mutliple Python installs necessary?

1 Answers1