Apple - Remove and Reinstall Python on Mac -- Can I trust these old references?

So, I ended up removing all python installations, and reinstalling things via Homebrew.

  1. which python ---> /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python Delete the entire Python.framework directory from /Library/Frameworks.
  2. which python3 ---> /usr/local/bin/python3 Delete the entire python3 directory.
  3. I was a bit nervous about the symlinks. I initially renamed the ones that were obviously going to cause me trouble. It turns out that was unnecessary. Instead, just use:

    $ brew doctor
    Warning: Broken symlinks were found. Remove them with 'brew prune':
      /usr/local/bin/python-32
      /usr/local/bin/python2-32
      /usr/local/bin/python2.7-32
      /usr/local/bin/python2_DNU
      /usr/local/bin/python_DNU
      /usr/local/bin/pythonw-32
      /usr/local/bin/pythonw2-32
      /usr/local/bin/pythonw2.7-32
    

    So, brew prune (or brew cleanup --prune in newer versions of Homebrew) worked perfectly. It removed all of the above symlinks.

  4. Reinstall python and python3 via homebrew. All done.

At no time did I touch the python installation located within the /System folder.

Oh, and to be clear. The answer to the original question is

Yes, you can trust the old references, as written! That guidance is still valid.


My Python version was 3.6, I wanted to upgrade to 3.7 (In case you have similar requirements). I am using macOS version 10.12.6 and simply uninstalling and re-installing worked for me:

brew uninstall --ignore-dependencies python3

Then:

brew install python3

and done:

python3
Python 3.7.2 (default, Jan 13 2019, 12:51:54) 
[Clang 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.39.2)] on darwin
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