[Tutor] Wish to upgrade Python 3.6.5 to Python 3.6.6 for Linux Mint 19

[boB Stepp]

On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 11:52 PM boB Stepp <robertvstepp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 8:43 PM boB Stepp <robertvstepp at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 14, 2018 at 8:23 PM Mats Wichmann <mats at wichmann.us> wrote:
> > >
> > > take a look at pyenv. should make it fairly easy.
> > >
> > > https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv
> >
> > This does look interesting.  On the linked page, after installing and
> > configuring pyenv, it says to install Python as follows giving a 2.7.8
> > example:
> >
> > $ pyenv install 2.7.8
> >
> > Where and how does it get its Python installation?
>
> After a lot of searching, I'm still not sure how pyenv is working its
> magic.  On https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv/wiki it says:
>
> "pyenv will try its best to download and compile the wanted Python version, ..."
>
> This suggests that it is getting the source from somewhere
> (python.org/downloads ?) and then compiling it locally.  Is this what
> it actually does?

After too much fruitless searching I finally found a more direct
confirmation of what I was suspecting to be true at

"In contrast, with PyEnv, you install a Python. This can be a version
of CPython, PyPy, IronPython, Jython, Pyston, stackless, miniconda, or
even Anaconda. It downloads the sources from the official repos, and
compiles them on your machine [1]. Plus, it provides an easy and
transparent way of switching between installed versions (including any
system-installed versions). After that, you use Python's own venv and
pip."

This sounds like exactly what I need!  Thanks for this, Mats!!  I will
give it a whirl later today after I wake up.

-- 
boB