How to set Python version by default in FreeBSD?

Question

I'm trying to install the application node , but by default in my environment is python 3 , and requires python 2.6 . How can I change the default python version in FreeBSD ?

# cd /usr/local/bin
# ls -l | grep python
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel  1246256 Jul 12  2011 python
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1401 Jul 12  2011 python-config
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     6060 Jul 12  2011 python-shared
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1408 Jul 12  2011 python-shared-config
-r-xr-xr-x   1 root  wheel     3720 Jul 12  2011 python-shared2.6
-r-xr-xr-x   1 root  wheel     1431 Jul 12  2011 python-shared2.6-config
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     6060 Jul 12  2011 python-shared3.1
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1408 Jul 12  2011 python-shared3.1-config
-r-xr-xr-x   1 root  wheel  1182056 Jul 12  2011 python2.6
-r-xr-xr-x   1 root  wheel     1424 Jul 12  2011 python2.6-config
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel  1246256 Jul 12  2011 python3.1
-r-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1401 Jul 12  2011 python3.1-config

Answer 1

You should remove the python meta-port /usr/ports/lang/python . Then set the following variable in /etc/make.conf :

PYTHON_DEFAULT_VERSION='python3.2'

(If you want the latest version. Alternatively you can also use python3.1 . Currently, the default is python2.7 .)

Now install /usr/ports/lang/python again. Note that ports can request another version of python!

Update : Since October 2013, there is a new way of setting default versions;

20131003:
  AFFECTS: users of lang/python* and ports
  AUTHOR: mva@FreeBSD.org

  The default versions of lang/python* have been changed to support the
  new DEFAULT_VERSIONS variable.

  PYTHON_DEFAULT_VERSION, PYTHON2_DEFAULT_VERSION and
  PYTHON3_DEFAULT_VERSION are deprecated. If you have set them in your
  make.conf, you should change them something like

  DEFAULT_VERSIONS=python=2.7 python2=2.7 python3=3.3

Answer 2

You could remove /usr/local/bin/python and create a symlink to Python 2.6:

rm /usr/local/bin/python
ln -s /usr/local/bin/python2.6 /usr/local/bin/python

Answer 3

The correct answer as of FreeBSD 12.0 is as follows.

1. Create a file in /tmp/makePatchPython3.6.patch with the following contents:

1,2d0
< DEFAULT_VERSIONS += python=3.6
< 

This will add a line to the start of your /etc/make.conf that will change the default python in use on the system.

[/usr/ports/lang/python]$ sudo make deinstall
[/usr/ports/lang/python]$ sudo patch /etc/make.conf /tmp/makePatchPython3.6.patch
[/usr/ports/lang/python]$ sudo make reinstall
[/usr/ports/lang/python]$ python --version
Python 3.6.8 # This will be different depending on which python version you install.

Answer 4

mv python python.old

ln -s /usr/bin/pythonX.X  /usr/bin/python

in XX write your version