"python3" is executing "python3.8" instead of "python3.9"

Question

I'm using Ubuntu and I just updated my python3 from 3.8 to 3.9 but when I'm running Python3 on terminal it opens the 3.8 version and not the 3.9.
How can I change this? thanks a lot.
python3 --version

I wrote an answer here that covers a very similar situation. — wjandrea
– wjandrea, Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 17:02
@wjandrea Note that the answer is somewhat outdated: Python2.7 is not included in ubuntu20.04, and there is specifically a package python-is-python3. — MegaIng
– MegaIng, Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 17:06
@wjandrea Also, I would argue that it is version specify. (Since you removed the tag) — MegaIng
– MegaIng, Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 17:06
@MegaIng Good point about Python 2. I'm aware of that but not too familiar. Could you explain how the question is specific to Python 3.9? — wjandrea
– wjandrea, Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 17:12

wjandrea · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-26 15:55:26Z

2

You don't. python3.8 is a distribution used by other programs on Ubuntu, which expect that dependencies on python3-<package name> install in a way that python3 can import them. If you change the linkage, any number of (possibly important) packages might break, e.g. gnome-terminal. Just use python3.9 explicitly.

edited Sep 26 at 15:55

wjandrea

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answered Dec 24, 2020 at 16:58

MegaIng

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