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Installation

There are three ways to install the Python Launcher for Unix:

  1. A supported package manager
  2. A pre-built binary available from the project's releases page
  3. From source

Which option is available and best for you will depend on your operating system and your own personal preferences.

Packaging status

Linux

Linuxbrew

brew install python-launcher

Arch

yay -S python-launcher

Fedora

sudo dnf install python-launcher

Requires Fedora 34 or higher.

NixOS

To try the Launcher out: 

nix-shell -p python-launcher

Pre-built binaries

RISC-V

  1. Download python_launcher-1.0.1-riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz:
curl --location --remote-name https://github.com/brettcannon/python-launcher/releases/download/v1.0.1/python_launcher-1.0.1-riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz
  1. Install into, e.g. /usr/local:
tar --extract --strip-components 1 --directory /usr/local --file python_launcher-1.0.1-riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz

AArch64

  1. Download python_launcher-1.0.1-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz:
curl --location --remote-name https://github.com/brettcannon/python-launcher/releases/download/v1.0.1/python_launcher-1.0.1-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz
  1. Install into, e.g. /usr/local:
tar --extract --strip-components 1 --directory /usr/local --file python_launcher-1.0.1-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz

x86-64

  1. Download python_launcher-1.0.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz:
curl --location --remote-name https://github.com/brettcannon/python-launcher/releases/download/v1.0.1/python_launcher-1.0.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz
  1. Install into, e.g. /usr/local:
tar --extract --strip-components 1 --directory /usr/local --file python_launcher-1.0.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz

macOS

Homebrew

brew install python-launcher

Note

If you have multiple installs of Python via Homebrew but they are not all being found (as verified via py --list), chances are Homebrew didn't symlink an installation due to the python symlink already being defined. For each installation you are missing you will need to tell Homebrew to ignore the conflict so that the version-specific python symlink gets created.

For instance, if your Python 3.10 installation isn't being found (due to python3.10 not existing), try running:

brew link --overwrite [email protected]

That will symlink the python3.10 command. It will also overwrite what python3 points at, meaning it may not point at the newest release of Python. Luckily the Python Launcher for Unix deals with this exact issue. 😁

Pre-built binaries

Apple Silicon

  1. Download python_launcher-1.0.1-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.xz:
curl --location --remote-name https://github.com/brettcannon/python-launcher/releases/download/v1.0.1/python_launcher-1.0.1-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.xz
  1. Install into, e.g. /usr/local:
tar --extract --strip-components 1 --directory /usr/local --file python_launcher-1.0.1-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.xz

x86-64

  1. Download python_launcher-1.0.1-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.xz:
curl --location --remote-name https://github.com/brettcannon/python-launcher/releases/download/v1.0.1/python_launcher-1.0.1-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.xz
  1. Install into, e.g. /usr/local:
tar --extract --strip-components 1 --directory /usr/local --file python_launcher-1.0.1-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.xz

From source

Crates.io

cargo install python-launcher

Repository checkout

cargo install --path .