Python

Python is the programming language that runs Portage and many other tools in Gentoo. It is extremely powerful and useful for many scripting tasks.

Installation
Since Python is so integral to Gentoo there is little chance it is not installed. Doing so would be like removing the heart from Gentoo. There is occasion where Python must be recompiled in order to add new features or to upgrade.

Emerge
Python is slotted, which means there is more than one version Python that can be installed on a Gentoo system at the same time. Select the version to install by using an  (colon) and the package atom followed by one of the slot numbers:

For example, to install Python 3.4

Setting the active interpreter
The active Python interpreter can be set using the eselect python command. First list the available interpreters using list:

Select the desired interpreter using set. In this example the second option was chosen:

Invocation
A specific version of the Python interpreter can be invoked from the command-line directly by running:

Or