Set Python 3 as default in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

As you might know, starting from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Python 2 is no longer a dependency and not installed by default anymore. However, there are still some caveats:

  • When installing Python using apt install python it will still install Python 2
  • When upgrading from an older Ubuntu version, python will still point to Python 2

The fix is simple: install the python-is-python3 package:

sudo apt install python-is-python3

After installing this package, running apt install python will give you Python 3 and if you had already installed Python, python will now actually point to Python 3.

Finally, no more Python 2!

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