How to fix python3 on ubuntu

Question

In attempt to remove an older version of python, I removed something important, and now nothing works.

> python3
Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
Python path configuration:
  PYTHONHOME = (not set)
  PYTHONPATH = (not set)
  program name = 'python3'
  isolated = 0
  environment = 1
  user site = 1
  import site = 1
  sys._base_executable = '/home/karm/bin/python3'
  sys.base_prefix = '/usr'
  sys.base_exec_prefix = '/usr'
  sys.executable = '/home/karm/bin/python3'
  sys.prefix = '/usr'
  sys.exec_prefix = '/usr'
  sys.path = [
    '/usr/lib/python38.zip',
    '/usr/lib/python3.8',
    '/usr/lib/lib-dynload',
  ]
Fatal Python error: init_fs_encoding: failed to get the Python codec of the filesystem encoding
Python runtime state: core initialized
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings'
Current thread 0x00007f44dad8e740 (most recent call first):
<no Python frame>

The output of whereis python is

python: /usr/bin/python3.9 /usr/bin/python2.7 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/python3.8-config /usr/bin/python3.8 /etc/python3.9 /etc/python2.7 /etc/python /etc/python3.8 /usr/include/python2.7 /usr/include/python3.8 /usr/share/python /home/karm/bin/python

When I run export PYTHONHOME = /usr/ and export PYTHONHOME = /usr/bin/python3.9, the fields are fixed, but it doesn't work.

When I run sudo apt install -f, the output is

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
4 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 47.6 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 python3 amd64 3.8.2-0ubuntu2 [47.6 kB]
Fetched 47.6 kB in 1s (77.5 kB/s) 
dpkg: error processing package python3 (--configure):
 package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
 reinstall it before attempting configuration
Errors were encountered while processing:
 python3
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

It doesn't let me do anything. Is there a way to fix these issues without reinstalling the OS from boot drive?

You cannot remove the version of Python that comes with the OS without breaking the system. Reinstall and then read up on Python virtual environments to use other versions of Python without touching the system installed version. — Eagle_Mike, Apr 28 '21 at 17:32
Does this answer your question? Removed Python 3 and now Ubuntu Software Center, terminal and other applications don't work — karel, Feb 04 '22 at 01:37

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 05 '24 at 15:09

0

Simply repair-reinstall your Python bases afresh:

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install --reinstall python2.7 python3.6 python3.7 python3.8
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libpython2.7-minimal libpython3.6-minimal libpython3.7-minimal libpython3.8-minimal
sudo apt-get install --reinstall $(dpkg -S '/usr/lib/python3*' | cut -d ':' -f1 | cut -d ',' -f1 | sort | uniq | tr '\n' ' ')

edited Feb 05 '24 at 15:09

muru

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answered Feb 05 '24 at 15:08

Kayemba Luwaga

11

How to fix python3 on ubuntu

1 Answers1