I have a need to install a new version of Python on a dated Fedora Linux system (Fedora 31). Here is the steps that I followed,
# install neccessary packages to build Python from source
sudo dnf install gcc openssl-devel bzip2-devel libffi-devel zlib-devel
# download Python source package. You may select a different version you wish
# to download by browsing https://www.python.org/ftp/python/
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.5/Python-3.9.5.tgz
# extract the files from the package
tar xzf Python-3.9.5.tgz
# go to the directory where the extracted files are
cd Python-3.9.5
# enable optimization
sudo ./configure --enable-optimizations
# compile and install to /usr/local
sudo make altinstall
# show the version of the active Python
python --version
# add the newly installed Python to alternatives (I already have a Python2 Python3.7)
sudo alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/local/bin/python3.9 3
# config alternatives and select 3 as the active Python
sudo alternatives --config python
# check the version of the active Python
python --version
