realpython / realpython/python-guide
Discrepancy in Installation Python 3 on Windows
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Description
The Working with Python 3 section mentions you should use python3 to launch the Python 3 interpreter, which does not actually work. The Windows distribution provides only python.exe for all versions of Python, and to launch the Python 3 interpreter you need python. This also creates problems if you install both Python 2 and 3—the executables override each other, and only one of the exes is visible at a time through %Path% (what actually is visible depends on the order of the search paths).
AFAIK the official way to deal with this problem is through the py launcher, but that only solves the python.exe problem, not other scripts installed later during the setup (e.g. pip vs pip3), and other global tools (e.g. pipenv). It will affect other parts of the tutorial as well.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the guide's “Working with Python 3” section and review the linked Python launcher documentation for Windows. Check the other tutorial references to Python, pip, pip3, and pipenv, then update the Windows-specific guidance so the commands and version-selection instructions are consistent throughout.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- documentation
- Issue type
- Documentation
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100