So I'm setting up my default variables in a new MacBook M1 and for some reason, my symlink doesn't seem to work.
Why is the following behaviour happening? The symlink from python to python3 gets lost somehow. /Users/overflow/Documents/tools is part of my PATH variable.
$ type python
python is /Users/overflow/Documents/tools/python
$ python -V
Python 2.7.16
$ ls -lah /Users/overflow/Documents/tools/python
lrwxr-xr-x 1 overflow staff 16B 6 Oct 18:48 /Users/overflow/Documents/tools/python -> /usr/bin/python3
$ /usr/bin/python3 -V
Python 3.8.9
$ echo $PATH | sed 's/:/\n/g'
/Users/overflow/Documents/tools
/Users/overflow/Documents/Dropbox/productivity/bin
/Users/overflow/Documents/tools/confluent-6.1.0/bin
/Users/overflow/.sdkman/candidates/java/current/bin
/Users/overflow/.nvm/versions/node/v16.10.0/bin
/Users/overflow/bin
/usr/local/bin
/opt/homebrew/bin
/opt/homebrew/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin
Given the path is not being utilized, it is being overridden by a shell alias. This can be confirmed by typing set | grep python
If you are using virtualenv:
Try: /usr/bin/python3 -m venv python3.8.9
The common MacOS python managers are:
List installs using pythonz list
Change using: /usr/bin/python3 -m venv python3.8.9
List installs pythonbrew list
Use pythonbrew switch 3.8.9 to move to the new version.
Claims to use only $PATH. Included for completeness, but just in case
List installs pyenv versions
Use pyenv global 3.8.9 to move to the new version.
To remove any of these remove the appropriate line from your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file.
You can locate the line with grep ~/.bashrc python.
I can give you some general troubleshooting tips and a band-aid that can replace a symlink.
$(which python) -V
This should get you the version for python3.
Other thing worth checking:
which python2
This should point to some standard location, /usr/bin/python2 for example. If it isn't pointed there, might be worth understanding why.
In general, Macs have some quirks. The fact that a new MacBook M4 ships with Python2 as the default is a smell that you probably shouldn't try to overwrite the default value, and for whatever reason it doesn't seem to want you to.
Simple answer: set an alias.
echo 'alias python="python3"' >> ~/.zshrc && source;
This will work for you and should not interfere with any potential other systems.
Better answer:
As others have described, create a virtual environment and source venv/bin/activate.