Alternative Implementations

This site hosts the "traditional" implementation of Python (nicknamed CPython). A number of alternative implementations are available as well, namely

Download Python

The current production versions are Python 2.7.2 and Python 3.2.2.

Start with one of these versions for learning Python or if you want the most stability; they're both considered stable production releases.

If you don't know which version to use, start with Python 2.7; more existing third party software is compatible with Python 2 than Python 3 right now.

For the MD5 checksums and OpenPGP signatures, look at the detailed Python 2.7.2 page:

Also look at the detailed Python 3.2.2 page:

A comprehensive list of all released versions is available if you need source code for an older version of Python.

Other parties have re-packaged Python. These re-packagings often include more libraries or are specialized for a particular application:

Information about specific ports, and developer info:

OpenPGP Public Keys

Source and binary executables are signed by the release manager using their OpenPGP key. The release managers since Python 2.3 have been:

Note: Barry's key id EA5BBD71 is used to sign all Python 2.6 and 3.0 releases. His key id ED9D77D5 is a v3 key and was used to sign older releases.

You can import the release manager public keys by either downloading the public key file from here and then running

% gpg --import pubkeys.txt

or by grabbing the individual keys directly from the keyserver network by running this command:

% gpg --recv-keys EA5BBD71 6A45C816 ED9D77D5 \
    7D9DC8D2 A4135B38 36580288

On the version-specific download pages, you should see a link to both the downloadable file and a detached signature file. To verify the authenticity of the download, grab both files and then run this command:

% gpg --verify Python-3.2.2.tgz.asc

Note that you must use the name of the signature file, and you should use the one that's appropriate to the download you're verifying.

Other Useful Items

Want to contribute? See the Python Developer's Guide to learn about how Python development is managed.

Python is OSI Certified Open Source:

[1] (1, 2) The binaries for AMD64 will also work on processors that implement the Intel 64 architecture (formerly EM64T), i.e. the architecture that Microsoft calls x64, and AMD called x86-64 before calling it AMD64. They will not work on Intel Itanium Processors (formerly IA-64).

[2] (1, 2, 3, 4) There is important information about IDLE, Tkinter, and Tcl/Tk on Mac OS X here.