How Do I Install Python on Alpine Linux?

How Do I Install Python on Alpine Linux?

How do I install python3 and python3-pip on an alpine based image (without using a python image)?

 $ apk add --update python3.8 python3-pip
 ERROR: unsatisfiable constraints:
   python3-pip (missing):
     required by: world[python3-pip]
   python3.8 (missing):
     required by: world[python3.8]
3

6 Answers

This is what I use in a Dockerfile for an alpine image:

# Install python/pip
ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
RUN apk add --update --no-cache python3 && ln -sf python3 /usr/bin/python
RUN python3 -m ensurepip
RUN pip3 install --no-cache --upgrade pip setuptools
3

Look here: So what you are looking for are the python3 and py3-pip packages.

A suitable command to use inside a dockerfile/etc would be:

apk add --no-cache python3 py3-pip

Explanation of the --no-cache flag

Note however, that you need to add the community repository since py3-pip is not present on main.

4

instead of python3-pip install py3-pip

apk add --update python3 py3-pip
1

You can try this command:

apk add python3
0

You may use the python official image which offers alpine tags as well. You will probably get the most state-of-the-art python install:

e.g.:

FROM python:3-alpine

It looks like you're trying to install a specific minor version of Python3 (3.8), you can do this in Alpine by using semver like this which will install a version of python3>=3.8.0 <3.9.0-0:

apk add python3=~3.8

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James H. Sterling
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James H. Sterling

James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.