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I want Python 3 (and I do not want to mess with OS X provided python). According to:

https://docs.python.org/3/using/mac.html

I can get Python 3 and live long and prosper, BUT it is not clear what happens when I want to upgrade using the next DMG. As an example I can tell you what happens with R on OS X: you get a GUI in /Application and stuff in /Library/Frameworks. On upgrade the GUI is upgraded and the new framework is placed in the /Library/Frameworks directory, side by side with the old (there is a nice ‘current’ symlink that makes sure that the old stuff is ignored). I always delete the old stuff to avoid accumulating crud, and that’s it. Would this approach work for Phyton?

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I personally use Homebrew, which is a very nice package manager. If you want to give this a try, first of all make sure you have the XCode Command Line Tools installed on your Mac. Then install Homebrew by typing

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

in the Terminal. Homebrew will place its "Cellar" (the set of all the packages you installed with Homebrew) in /usr/local/Cellar.

Now, about Python 3, once Homebrew is installed simply type

brew install python3

and there we go. You have Python3 installed on your Mac.

Notes:

  • this version will automatically take place instead of the OS X version (if it doesn't, just run brew link python3 - this will symlink python3 into /usr/local/bin/)
  • to update python run brew update in the Terminal (this will update Homebrew) and then brew upgrade python3 if a new version of python3 is found by the command brew update
  • at the end you can run brew cleanup python3 to remove every old version
  • with this fancy package manager, you can also take care of R
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    Quote: "this version will automatically take place instead of the OS X version (if it doesn't, just run "brew link python3" - this will symlink python3 into /usr/local/bin/)". That is exactly what I do NOT want. I use Homebrew for other stuff and I am not sure I want to go down the Homebrew way... – user1256923 Aug 23 '15 at 17:06
  • Maybe I wasn't that clear. The OS X version still will be available, but the default compiler will be set as the Homebrew-one. If that's what you still do not want, then I don't get it. Just like the R example you provided, it will also create some GUI and the proper Framework will be updated as well. Apologies. – AlessioX Aug 23 '15 at 17:15
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    The last thing I can say is, considering that HB will symlink things into "/usr/local/bin" and the original Apple stuffs are in "/usr/bin", you can set and edit priority by editing your $PATH environment: if you put "/usr/local/bin" first you'll have the HB version, if you put "/usr/bin" first, you'll have the Apple version. Rather annoying I know, but that's the only option that came to mind – AlessioX Aug 23 '15 at 20:32
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    You may also use brew unlink python3 to remove the symbolic link. You will now use the osx version when running python. To use the brew version, you can still run, for example, /usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.3.2/bin/python3 or create a symlink like ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.3.2/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/python-3.3.2 and after that, run python-3.3.2. You can also install old version of python3 formulas with HB, and use all of them separately. Check this on how to do that. – madmax1 Aug 23 '15 at 20:39
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    You don't need to link python3, it will automatically be available as /usr/local/bin/python3. And since OS X doesn't ship with Python 3 anyway, you don't overwrite any preinstalled Python. – skrause Aug 25 '15 at 22:19
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Use Homebrew :)

brew install python3

Hombrew installs everything into /usr/local/Cellar and creates symbolic links for applications in /usr/local/bin. It will not touch anything else in the system. It comes with the brew cleanup command, which removes unused or outdated applications automatically.

To update it:

brew update
brew upgrade python3

It will automatically link to the newest version after an upgrade and brew clean removes any remains of the previous version.

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You can use the Anaconda distribution. Its a free version of Python 3 (and Python2). The Andaconda package will also let you update different python versions and upon installation it sets the proper python path. Anaconda comes with Anaconda Navigator which helps you load python packages and comes also with Spyder 3. A Python IDE type of app.

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    OP asks for Python3 not a bloatware with multiple gigs of mostly not needed add-ons. – Cellcore Jul 19 '20 at 20:32
  • There are not gigabytes of data copied unless to tell it to do so. If you loaded Python 3 and got gigabytes of extra data then you didn't install it properly. – Natsfan Jul 19 '20 at 21:03
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    I’m not happy with anaconda, because it causes troubles with all non anaconda installations. in itself it is maybe nice to use and convenient but all in all it is a forked python distribution. – Cellcore Jul 19 '20 at 21:08
  • Everyone has a right to his opinion. I love Anaconda myself and it worked well for me. But I don't use different distributions so maybe I haven't encountered your problems. You could contact the developer with your problems. There may be a simple workaround. – Natsfan Jul 19 '20 at 21:12
  • Of course and if you are happy to use it then continue. Everyone has the freedom to use what works best for them. On user-oriented systems it is for sure nice to use. – Cellcore Jul 19 '20 at 21:24

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