How to update python from 3.5.2 to 3.5.3 on Linux

[Thomas Nyberg]

On 05/03/2017 11:47 AM, Wolfgang Maier wrote:
> On 03.05.2017 17:11, Thomas Nyberg wrote:
>> On 05/03/2017 11:04 AM, Daiyue Weng wrote:
>>> nope, I was thinking it might be good to update to 3.5.3 for security
>>> reasons?
>>>
>>
>> (CCing back in python-list since I accidentally dropped it.)
>>
>> I wouldn't worry about it. Package managers tend to usually take care of
>> security updates. (Of course there is criticism of Linux Mint saying
>> they're not as great at this...) Looking at Ubuntu 16.04, they are still
>> on 3.5.1 (plus Ubuntu's own patches):
>>
>>     http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/python3
>>
> 
> Maybe I'm mistaken here, but I don't think that is fully true. With an
> LTS version of Ubuntu you I don't think you will *ever* get upgraded to
> a new Python version. Instead Canonical will backport changes from new
> maintainance releases like 3.5.2/3.5.3 to older releases of the same
> minor version (like the 3.5 series). So while the package for Python3.5
> for Ubuntu 16.04 will seem pinned at version 3.5.1 over the lifetime of
> the OS, the actual Python version you are running may be newer. In fact,
> on my 16.04:
> 
> % apt list python3
> python3/xenial,now 3.5.1-3 amd64 [installed]
> 
> % python3 -V
> Python 3.5.2
> 
> I have no clue how Mint handles this though.
> 
> Wolfgang
> 
Interesting...learn something new every day! I knew that they would
backport security updates, but I never realized they would actually use
a newer (micro) version of the interpreter while retaining the original
number on the package. (Of course using a newer micro version really
just means officially backporting all those patches...which might mean
basically the same thing as just using the newer micro release and
adding their own changes.)

Anyway thanks for pointing this out! This is exactly the kind of
misconception that could fester for a long time without my every
realizing it.

Cheers,
Thomas