# Managing Python on macOS Big Sur

> Upgrade Python on macOS Big Sur using pyenv. Install Python 3.9.1 and update pip for smoother management.

- Canonical: https://www.russ.cloud/2021/01/10/managing-python-on-macos-big-sur/
- Published: 2021-01-10
- Author: Russ McKendrick
- Tags: Macos, Python

---

When Apple releases a new version of macOS it always takes a few months for everything to catchup, following my last blog post where I mentioned that I was [having problems installing Python on macOS Big Sur](https://www.mediaglasses.blog/2020/12/28/ansible-azure-and-macos-big-sur/)which meant that my preferred method of installing and managing Python using `pyenv`, which is [documented in this blog post](https://www.mediaglasses.blog/2019/12/29/upgrade-python-on-macos/), didn't work out of the box - and the workarounds suggested workarounds on GitHub made my shell really slow.

Luckily, I noticed that there was an update to both [Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-391/) and`pyenv` when I ran `brew update` today so decided to give `pyenv` another try, and it worked as expected.

First I manually installed some prerequisites suggested on various GitHub issues, just to be on the safe side:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Install some prerequisites"
``` terminfo
brew install zlib sqlite bzip2 libiconv libzip
```
```


Next up you can either install or upgrade to the latest version of `pyenv`, which during writing is `1.2.22`:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Install pyenv"
``` terminfo
brew install pyenv
```
```


If like me, you need to upgrade, then you can run:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Upgrade pyenv"
``` terminfo
brew upgrade pyenv
```
```


Once the latest version `pyenv` has been installed, run the following commands to install the latest stable version of Python, which is currently 3.9.1:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Install Python 3.9.1 using pyenv"
``` terminfo
pyenv install 3.9.1
pyenv global 3.9.1
pyenv version
```
```


Once installed, run the following command to make sure that the `pyenv` managed version of Python is picked up:

<InfoCallout title="Info">
**Update: 11/06/2021;** the command below has been updated to include a change to how the "pyenv init" command works.
</InfoCallout>

```bash frame="terminal" title="Make sure the pyenv version is used"
``` terminfo
echo -e $'if command -v pyenv 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then\\n  export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"\\n  export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"\\n  eval "$(pyenv init --path)"\\n  eval "$(pyenv init -)"\\nfi' >> ~/.zshrc
```
```


Open a new shell and run:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Check the python version"
``` terminfo
python --version
which python
```
```


This should return something like the following:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Output of the commands"
$ python --version
Python 3.9.1
$ which python
/Users/russ.mckendrick/.pyenv/shims/python
```


The final step is to make sure that `pip` is up-to-date, to do this run:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Update pip"
``` terminfo
pip install --upgrade pip
```
```


This fixed a few issues I had when I ran:

```bash frame="terminal" title="Install Ansible"
``` terminfo
pip install --user ansible
```
```


Which meant that I didn't need to use [my custom container anymore](/2020/12/28/ansible-azure-and-macos-big-sur/).