Compiling and Installing Python 3 on Linux arm64

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Environment

Debian 11 arm64

Python 3.12.4

Other systems and Python versions are similar.

Prerequisites

First, update apt.

sudo apt update

Install missing dependencies.

sudo apt build-dep python3
sudo apt install -y build-essential libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev wget curl llvm libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev libnss3-dev liblzma-dev tk-dev libssl-dev libffi-dev
# May be needed
sudo apt install openssl

Installation

Download the source code from the Python official website.

wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.12.4/Python-3.12.4.tgz

Extract the source code and enter the directory.

tar -zxvf Python-3.12.4.tgz
cd Python-3.12.4

Generate the Makefile.

./configure \
--enable-optimizations \
--with-system-ffi \
--with-ssl \
--enable-ipv6 \
--enable-shared CFLAGS=-fPIC \
--prefix=/usr/local/python3.12.4 \
ac_cv_file__dev_ptmx=no \
ac_cv_file__dev_ptc=no

Compile.

Use the -j flag to speed up compilation, where nproc is the number of CPU cores.

make -j $(nproc)
# Or
make -j 2

Install.

# Install
make install
# Install shared libraries
cp /usr/local/python3.12.4/lib/libpython3* /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/

Post-installation

Set environment variables.

Edit the profile configuration file.

vim /etc/profile

Add the following at the end:

export PATH=/usr/local/python3.12.4/bin:$PATH

Make the environment variables take effect.

source /etc/profile

Verify the installation.

python3 --version

Uninstallation

rm -rf /usr/local/python3.12.4
rm -rf /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libpython3*

References: https://blog.iamsjy.com/2024/07/27/compile-and-install-python-3.12.4-on-debian-11-arm64/ https://chatgpt.com/