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Installing Anaconda on Linux

This section details the installation of the Anaconda distribution of Python on Linux, specifically Ubuntu 18.04, but the instructions should work for other Debian-based Linux distributions as well.

Ubuntu 18.04 comes pre-installed with Python (Version 3.6) and legacy Python (Version 2.7). You can confirm the legacy version of Python is installed by opening up a terminal.

In the terminal type:

$ python

You will most likely see Python Version 2.7 is installed. If you enter:

$ python3

You will most likely see Python Version 3.6 is also installed. You can use the 3.6 Version of Python, but each time a new package needs to be downloaded, the $ pip3 install command must be used.

Install the Anaconda distribution of Python to follow the examples in the book without the need to install additional third-party packages.

Steps:

Visit Anaconda.com/downloads
Select Linux
Copy the bash (.sh file) installer link
Use wget to download the bash installer
Run the bash script to install Anaconda3
source the .bash-rc file to add Anaconda to your PATH
Start the Python REPL

1. Visit the Anaconda downloads page

Go to the following link: Anaconda.com/downloads

2. Select Linux

On the downloads page, select the Linux operating system

Anaconda downloads page operating systems option. Notice Linux is selected

3. Copy the bash (.sh file) installer link

In the Python 3.6 Version* box, right-click on the [64-Bit(x86) Installer] link. Select [copy link address].

Anaconda installation on Linux, Copy the download link address.

4. Use `wget` to download the bash installer

Now that the bash installer (.sh file) link is stored on the clipboard, use wget to download the installer script. In a terminal, cd into the home directory and make a new directory called tmp. cd into tmp and use wget to download the installer. Although the installer is a bash script, it is still quite large and the download will not be immediate (Note the link below includes <release>. the specific release depends on when you download the installer).

$ cd ~
$ mkdir tmp
$ cd tmp
$ https://repo.continuum.io/archive/Anaconda3<release>.sh

5. Run the bash script to install Anaconda3

With the bash installer script downloaded, run the .sh script to install Anaconda3. Ensure you are in the directory where the installer script downloaded:

$ ls
Anaconda3-5.2.0-Linux-x86_64.sh

Run the installer script with bash.

$ bash Anaconda3-5.2.0-Linux-x86_64.sh

Accept the Licence Agreement and allow Anaconda to be added to your PATH. By adding Anaconda to your PATH, the Anaconda distribution of Python will be called when you type $ python in a terminal.

6. `source` the `.bash-rc` file to add Anaconda to your `PATH`

Now that Anaconda3 is installed and Anaconda3 is added to our PATH, source the .bashrc file to load the new PATH environment variable into the current terminal session. Note the .bashrc file is in the home directory. You can see it with $ ls -a.

$ cd ~
$ source .bashrc

7. Start the Python REPL

To verify the installation is complete, open Python from the command line:

$ python

Python 3.6.5 |Anaconda, Inc.| (default, Mar 29 2018, 18:21:58)
[GCC 7.2.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

If you see Python 3.6 from Anaconda listed, your installation is complete. To exit the Python REPL, type:

>>> exit()

Installing Anaconda on Linux