Python Versions
Internal
Overview
This page document how to deal with multiple Python versions on the same system. pyenv is a tool that deals with that.
Python Version Management with Brew
brew provides concurrently maintained releases for Python 3.x, as python@3.x. Older versions are being gradually deprecated. Python 2 is deprecated since 2019 and it is not served by brew. Multiple Python 3.x releases can be installed on the same system, at the same time. Within any minor release, Python may be upgraded to a newer version at any time. If you require stability of minor and patch version for virtual environments, use pyenv.
The Python versions are installed in $(brew --prefix)/Cellar using the following naming scheme:
$(brew --prefix)/Cellar ├─ ... ├─ python@3.8 ├─ python@3.9 ├─ python@3.10 ├─ python@3.11 ├─ python@3.12 ├─ ...
The default brew install path and Cellar location is /usr/local/Cellar but may differ depending on the brew installation. See:
Versioned symlinks for python, python-config, pip are installed in $(brew --prefix python)/bin and unversioned symlinks are installed in $(brew --prefix python)/libexec/bin:
$(brew --prefix)/opt ├─ ... ├─ python@3.9 │ ├─ bin │ │ ├─ python3.9 │ │ ├─ pip3.9 │ │ └─ ... │ └─ libexec │ └─ bin │ ├─ python │ ├─ python3 │ ├─ pip │ ├─ pip3 │ └─ ... │ ├─ ... ├─ python@3.11 │ ├─ bin │ │ ├─ python3.11 │ │ ├─ pip3.11 │ │ └─ ... │ └─ libexec │ └─ bin │ ├─ python │ ├─ python3 │ ├─ pip │ ├─ pip3 │ └─ ... ├─ ...
Install a Specific Version
brew install python@3.12
If multiple versions are installed this way, only one is symlinked in /usr/local/bin/python and /usr/local/bin/python3 (which one?, looks like the newest one)
To use a specific version other than the one symlinked, update the PATH:
export PATH="$(brew --prefix)/opt/python@3.7/bin:${PATH}"
Update a Specific Version to a Newer Patch Level
brew upgrade python@3.12
Get More Info about a Specific Python Version
brew info python@3.9
pip relationship to Python Version
site-packages is a directory that contains Python modules. brew creates it here:
$(brew --prefix)/lib ├─ ... ├─ python@3.9 │ └─ site-packages ├─ ... ├─ python@3.11 │ └─ site-packages ├─ ...
The specific version of the pip that is being used will infer the corresponding location.
Python 3.y also searches for modules in /Library/Python/3.y/site-packages and ~/Library/Python/3.y/lib/python/site-packages. brew’s site-packages directory is first created (1) once any brew formulae with Python bindings are installed, or (2) upon brew install python.