pystand 1.4

Install Python versions from python-build-standalone project

PYSTAND - Install Python Versions From The Python-Build-Standalone Project

pystand is a command line tool to facilitate the download, installation, and update of pre-built Python versions from the python-build-standalone project. The following commands are provided:

Command	Description
install	Install one or more versions from a python-build-standalone release
update	Update one, more, or all versions to another release
remove	Remove/uninstall one, more, or all versions
list	List installed versions and show which have an update available
show	Show versions available from a release
path	Show path prefix to installed version base directory

By default, Python versions are sourced from the latest python-build-standalone release available (e.g. "20240415") but you can optionally specify any older release. The required distribution for your machine architecture is normally auto-detected but can be overridden if required.

Some simple usage examples are:

$ pystand install 3.12
Version 3.12.3 @ 20240415 installed.

$ ls -l $(pystand path 3.12)/bin
total 4136
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user       9 May 30 22:23 2to3 -> 2to3-3.12
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user     128 Jan  1 10:00 2to3-3.12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user       8 May 30 22:23 idle3 -> idle3.12
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user     126 Jan  1 10:00 idle3.12
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user     256 Jan  1 10:00 pip
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user     256 Jan  1 10:00 pip3
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user     256 Jan  1 10:00 pip3.12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user       9 May 30 22:23 pydoc3 -> pydoc3.12
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user     111 Jan  1 10:00 pydoc3.12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user      10 May 30 22:23 python -> python3.12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user      10 May 30 22:23 python3 -> python3.12
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 4206512 Jan  1 10:00 python3.12
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user    3078 Jan  1 10:00 python3.12-config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user      17 May 30 22:23 python3-config -> python3.12-config

$ pystand install 3.10
Version 3.10.14 @ 20240415 installed.

$ pystand list
3.10.14 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
3.12.3 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"

$ pystand show
3.8.19 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
3.9.19 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
3.10.14 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" (installed)
3.11.9 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
3.12.3 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" (installed)

$ pystand remove 3.10
Version 3.10.14 @ 20240415 removed.

$ pystand list
3.12.3 @ 20240415 distribution="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"

Here are some examples showing how to use an installed version ..

# Use uv to create a virtual environment to be run with pystand installed python:
$ uv venv -p $(pystand path 3.12) myenv

# Create a regular virtual environment to be run with pystand installed python:
$ $(pystand path -p 3.12) -m venv myenv

# Use pipx to install a package to be run with pystand installed python:
$ pipx install --python $(pystand path -p 3.12) cowsay

See detailed usage information in the Usage section that follows.

Note that unlike nearly all similar tools such as pyenv, pdm python, and hatch python, pystand directly checks the python-build-standalone github site to fetch for new releases but those other tools require a software update before they can see new releases. This means that Python updates are available more quickly from pystand than other tools.

This utility has been developed and tested on Linux but should also work on macOS and Windows although has not been tried on those platforms. The latest documentation and code is available at https://github.com/bulletmark/pystand.

Usage

Type pystand or pystand -h to view the usage summary:

usage: pystand [-h] [-D DISTRIBUTION] [-B BASE_DIR] [-C CACHE_MINUTES]
                  [--purge-days PURGE_DAYS]
                  [--github-access-token GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN] [-V]
                  {install,update,remove,list,show,path} ...

Command line tool to download, install, and update pre-built Python versions
from the python-build-standalone project at
https://github.com/indygreg/python-build-standalone.

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -D DISTRIBUTION, --distribution DISTRIBUTION
                        python-build-standalone "*-install_only" distribution,
                        e.g. "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu". Default is auto-
                        detected (detected as "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" for
                        this current host).
  -B BASE_DIR, --base-dir BASE_DIR
                        specify pystand base dir for storing versions and
                        metadata. Default is "$HOME/.local/share/pystand"
  -C CACHE_MINUTES, --cache-minutes CACHE_MINUTES
                        cache latest YYYYMMDD release tag fetch for this many
                        minutes, before rechecking for latest. Default is 60
                        minutes
  --purge-days PURGE_DAYS
                        cache YYYYMMDD release file lists for this number of
                        days after last version referencing it is removed.
                        Default is 90 days
  --github-access-token GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN
                        Optional Github access token. Can specify to reduce
                        rate limiting.
  -V                    show pystand version

Commands:
  {install,update,remove,list,show,path}
    install             Install one or more versions from a python-build-
                        standalone release.
    update              Update one, more, or all versions to another release.
    remove              Remove/uninstall one, more, or all versions.
    list                List installed versions and show which have an update
                        available.
    show                Show versions available from a release.
    path                Show path prefix to installed version base directory.

Note you can set default starting global options in
$HOME/.config/pystand-flags.conf.

Type pystand <command> -h to see specific help/usage for any individual command:

Command install

usage: pystand install [-h] [-r RELEASE] [-f] version [version ...]

Install one or more versions from a python-build-standalone release.

positional arguments:
  version               version to install. E.g. 3.12 or 3.12.3

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -r RELEASE, --release RELEASE
                        install from specified python-build-standalone
                        YYYYMMDD release (e.g. 20240415), default is latest
                        release
  -f, --force           force install even if already installed

Command update

usage: pystand update [-h] [-r RELEASE] [-a] [--skip] [-k] [version ...]

Update one, more, or all versions to another release.

positional arguments:
  version               version to update (or to skip for --all --skip)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -r RELEASE, --release RELEASE
                        update to specified YYYMMDD release (e.g. 20240415),
                        default is latest release
  -a, --all             update ALL versions
  --skip                skip the specified versions when updating all (only
                        can be specified with --all)
  -k, --keep            keep old version after updating (but only if different
                        version number)

Command remove

usage: pystand remove [-h] [-a] [--skip] [-r RELEASE] [version ...]

Remove/uninstall one, more, or all versions.

positional arguments:
  version               version to remove (or to skip for --all --skip)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -a, --all             remove ALL versions
  --skip                skip the specified versions when removing all (only
                        can be specified with --all)
  -r RELEASE, --release RELEASE
                        only remove versions if from specified YYYMMDD release
                        (e.g. 20240415)

Command list

usage: pystand list [-h] [-v] [-r RELEASE] [version ...]

List installed versions and show which have an update available.

positional arguments:
  version               only list specified version, else all

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         explicitly report why a version is not eligible for
                        update
  -r RELEASE, --release RELEASE
                        use specified YYYYMMDD release (e.g. 20240415) for
                        verbose compare, default is latest release

Command show

usage: pystand show [-h] [-d] [release]

Show versions available from a release.

positional arguments:
  release              python-build-standalone YYYYMMDD release to show (e.g.
                       20240415), default is latest release

options:
  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
  -d, --distributions  also show all available distributions for each version
                       from the release

Command path

usage: pystand path [-h] [-p] version

Show path prefix to installed version base directory.

positional arguments:
  version            version to return path for

options:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  -p, --python-path  return full path to python executable

Installation and Upgrade

Python 3.8 or later is required. Arch Linux users can install pystand from the AUR and skip this section.

The easiest way to install pystand is to use pipx (or pipxu).

$ pipx install pystand

To upgrade:

$ pipx upgrade pystand

To uninstall:

$ pipx uninstall pystand

Extrapolation of Python Versions

pystand extrapolates any version text you specify on the command line to the latest available corresponding installed or release version. For example, if you specify pystand install 3.12 then pystand will look in the release files to find the latest (i.e. highest) available version of 3.12, e.g. 3.12.3 (at the time of writing), and will install that. Of course you can specify the exact version if you wish, e.g. 3.12.3 but generally you don't need to bother. This is true for any command that takes a version argument so be aware that this may be confusing if there are multiple same Python minor versions, e.g. 3.12.1 and 3.12.3, installed from different releases. So in that case you should specify the exact version because e.g. pystand remove 3.12 will remove 3.12.3 which may not be what you want.

Note, consistent with this, you actually don't need to specify a minor version, e.g. pystand install 3 would also install 3.12.3 (assuming 3.12.3 is the latest available version for Python 3).

After installs or updates or removals,pystand also maintains symbolic links to each latest installed version in it's version directory, e.g. a symlink ~/.local/share/pystand/versions/3.12 will be created pointing to ~/.local/share/pystand/versions/3.12.3 so that you can optionally hard code the symlink directory in places where it can not be set dynamically (i.e. where using pystand path is not an option).

Command Default Options

You can add default global options to a personal configuration file ~/.config/pystand-flags.conf. If that file exists then each line of options will be concatenated and automatically prepended to your pystand command line arguments. Comments in the file (i.e. # and anything after on a line) are ignored. Type pystand to see all supported options.

The global options: --distribution, --base-dir, --cache-minutes, --purge-days, --github-access-token are the only sensible candidates to consider setting as defaults.

Command Line Tab Completion

Command line shell tab completion is automatically enabled on pystand commands and options using argcomplete. You may need to first (once-only) activate argcomplete global completion.

License

Copyright (C) 2024 Mark Blakeney. This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ for more details.