Upgrading Python 2.7 to 3.8 : Recommended? I am running macOS Big Sur 11.1 on MacBook Air M1. It comes bundled with Python 3.9.1 for regular usage and running python command through terminal says that I have Python 2.7.16 for compatibility with legacy software.
I want to install TensorFlow which specifically requires Python 3.8. So, if I upgrade Python 2.7.16 to Python 3.8 will it cause trouble with legacy software? If no, then is it a good idea to do this upgrade? If yes, can you please tell me the procedure? I don't find a pip installed on my machine but there is a pip3 to work with Python3.
Also, is there a way to find the list of software/packages installed on my machine that require Python 2.7.x to work?
You can install Python 3.8 using homebrew. The instructions to install homebrew are on homebrew's home page. Currently the instructions are entering into a terminal window: /bin/bash -c &quot;$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)&quot;
The instructions to install Python 3.8 are on the homebrew page for Python 3.8. Once you've installed homebrew, enter into a terminal window brew install python@3.8
This won't replace your stock Python installations, it will be installed into a separate location to avoid causing problems with stock legacy software. User legacy software may require you to explicitly specify the full path for the version of python it requires.
I'm not aware of a method to find all software that uses the stock versions of Python.