python-builds

This repository orchestrates tools to produce Python binaries. The Python language is open source, please see the official documentation at https://www.python.org/.

These binaries are not a replacement to existing binary distributions for Python. The binaries were built with the following considerations:

• They use a minimal set of build and runtime dependencies.
• They are designed to be used side-by-side, e.g., on RStudio Workbench.
• They give users a consistent option for accessing Python across different Linux distributions.

Please open an issue to report a specific bug, or ask questions on RStudio Community.

Supported Platforms

Python binaries are built for the following Linux operating systems:

• Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, 24.04
• Debian 11, 12
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9
• openSUSE 15.5

Quick Installation

To use our quick install script to install Python, simply run the following command. To use the quick installer, you must have root or sudo privileges, and curl must be installed.

bash -c "$(curl -L https://rstd.io/python-install)"

Manual Installation

Specify Python version

Define the version of Python that you want to install. Available versions of Python can be found here: https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/versions.json

PYTHON_VERSION=3.11.9

Download and install Python

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Download the deb package:

# Ubuntu 20.04
wget https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/ubuntu-2004/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

# Ubuntu 22.04
wget https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/ubuntu-2204/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

# Ubuntu 24.04
wget https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/ubuntu-2404/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

Then install the package:

sudo apt-get install gdebi-core
sudo gdebi python-${PYTHON_VERSION}_1_amd64.deb

RHEL/CentOS Linux

using yum:

sudo yum install yum-utils sudo yum-config-manager --enable "rhel-*-optional-rpms"

Download the rpm package:

# RHEL 8
wget https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/centos-8/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

Then install the package:

sudo yum install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

SUSE Linux

Enable the Python backports repository (SLES 12 only):

# SLES 12
VERSION="SLE_$(grep "^VERSION=" /etc/os-release | sed -e 's/VERSION=//' -e 's/"//g' -e 's/-/_/')"
sudo zypper --gpg-auto-import-keys addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/python:/backports/$VERSION/devel:languages:python:backports.repo

Download the rpm package:

# openSUSE 15.3 / SLES 15 SP3
wget https://cdn.rstudio.com/python/opensuse-153/pkgs/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

Then install the package:

sudo zypper --no-gpg-checks install python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-1-1.x86_64.rpm

Verify Python installation

Test that Python was successfully installed by running:

/opt/python/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/python --version

Add Python to the system path

To ensure that Python is available on the system path, create symbolic links to the version of Python that you installed:

sudo ln -s /opt/python/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/python /usr/local/bin/python 

Optional post-installation steps

If you want to install multiple versions of Python on the same system, you can repeat these steps to install a different version of Python alongside existing versions.

---

Developer Documentation

This repository orchestrates builds using a variety of tools. The instructions below outline the components in the stack and describe how to add a new platform or inspect an existing platform.

Adding a new platform:

Dockerfile

Create a builder/Dockerfile.platform-version (where platform-version is ubuntu-2204 or rhel-9, etc.) This file must contain four major tasks:

1. an OS_IDENTIFIER env with the platform-version.
2. a step which ensures the Python source build dependencies are installed
3. The awscli, 1.17.10+ if installed via pip, for uploading tarballs to S3
4. COPY and ENTRYPOINT for the build.sh file in builder/.

docker-compose.yml

A new service in the docker-compose file named according to the platform-version and containing the proper entries:

command: ./build.sh
environment:
  - PYTHON_VERSION=${PYTHON_VERSION} # for testing out Python builds locally
  - LOCAL_STORE=/tmp/output # ensures that output tarballs are persisted locally
build:
  context: .
  dockerfile: Dockerfile.debian-12
image: python-builds:debian-12
volumes:
  - ./integration/tmp:/tmp/output  # path to output tarballs

Job definition

IN serverless-resources.yml you'll need to add a job definition that points to the ECR image.

pythonBuildsBatchJobDefinitionDebian12:
  Type: AWS::Batch::JobDefinition
  Properties:
    Type: container
    ContainerProperties:
      Command:
        - ./build.sh
      Vcpus: 4
      Memory: 4096
      JobRoleArn:
        "Fn::GetAtt": [ pythonBuildsEcsTaskIamRole, Arn ]
      Image: #{AWS::AccountId}.dkr.ecr.#{AWS::Region}.amazonaws.com/python-builds:debian-12

Environment variables in the serverless.yml functions.

The serverless functions which trigger Python builds need to be informed of new platforms.

1. Add a JOB_DEFINITION_ARN_PlatformVersion env variable with a ref to the Job definition above.
2. Append the platform-version to SUPPORTED_PLATFORMS.

environment:
  # snip
  JOB_DEFINITION_ARN_debian_12:
    Ref: pythonBuildsBatchJobDefinitionDebian12
  SUPPORTED_PLATFORMS: centos-8,debian-12

Makefile

In order for the makefile to push these new platforms to ECR, add them to the PLATFORMS variable near the top of the Makefile

Submit a Pull Request

Once you've followed the steps above, submit a pull request. On successful merge, builds for this platform will begin to be available from the CDN.

"Break Glass"

Periodically, someone with access to these resources may need to re-trigger every Python version/platform combination. This quite easy with the serverless tool installed.

# Rebuild all Python versions
serverless invoke stepf -n pythonBuilds -d '{"force": true}'

# Rebuild specific Python versions
serverless invoke stepf -n pythonBuilds -d '{"force": true, "versions": ["3.10.1", "3.11.9"]}'

Testing

To test the Python builds locally, you can build the images:

# Build images for all platforms
make docker-build

# Or build the image for a single platform
(cd builder && docker compose build ubuntu-2404)

Then run the build script:

# Build Python for all platforms
PYTHON_VERSION=3.11.9 make docker-build-python

# Build pre-release version for all platforms
PYTHON_VERSION=3.13.0rc3 make docker-build-python

# Build Python for a single platform
(cd builder && PYTHON_VERSION=3.11.9 docker compose up ubuntu-2404)

# Alternatively, run the build script from within a container
docker run -it --rm --entrypoint "/bin/bash" python-builds:ubuntu-2404

# Build Python 3.11.9
PYTHON_VERSION=3.11.9 ./build.sh