How to Install Python in Kali Linux?
1. Open the Terminal: First, open the terminal in Kali Linux. You can do this by clicking the «Terminal» icon in the taskbar, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T.
2. Update the system: Before installing any new packages, it’s always a good idea to update your system. Type the following command in the terminal to update your system:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
This will update the package lists and install any available updates.
3. Install Python: Kali Linux comes with Python pre-installed, but you may want to install a specific version of Python or install additional Python modules. To install the default version of Python (Python 3), type the following command in the terminal:
This will install Python 3 along with some necessary packages.
4. Verify the installation: After the installation is complete, you can verify the installation by typing the following command in the terminal:
This will print the version of Python that is currently installed on your system.
5. Install additional Python modules: If you want to install additional Python modules, you can use the pip package manager. Type the following command in the terminal to install pip:
sudo apt install python3-pip
6. Once pip is installed, you can use it to install any Python module you need. For example, to install the popular NumPy module, type the following command:
This will download and install NumPy and any required dependencies.
That’s it! You should now have Python installed on your Kali Linux system, and you can start using it to develop and run Python programs.
Other Methods
Here are a few more options to install Python in Kali Linux:
Install Python from source: If you want more control over the installation process, or if you need to install a specific version of Python that is not available through the Kali Linux repositories, you can download the source code from the Python website and install it manually. This process can be more complex than using the package manager, but it gives you more flexibility.
Here are the basic steps:
- Download the Python source code from the official website (https://www.python.org/downloads/)
- Extract the downloaded archive to a directory of your choice.
- Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you extracted the source code.
- Run the following commands to compile and install Python:
./configure make sudo make install After the installation is complete, you can check the version of Python by running the command python3 —version.
Use Anaconda: If you are planning to work on data science or machine learning projects, you might want to consider using Anaconda, a popular distribution of Python that comes with many pre-installed packages for scientific computing.
Here’s how to install Anaconda on Kali Linux:
- Download the Anaconda installer for Linux from the official website (https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual)
- Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the installer.
- Run the following command to execute the installer script:
bash Anaconda3-2021.05-Linux-x86_64.sh
- Follow the prompts to install Anaconda. You can choose the default settings or customize the installation as needed.
- After the installation is complete, you can launch Anaconda by running the command anaconda-navigator in the terminal.
These are just a few examples of how you can install Python on Kali Linux. The method you choose will depend on your specific needs and preferences.
Requirements
To install Python on Kali Linux, you will need the following:
- A working installation of Kali Linux: Before you can install Python, you need to have Kali Linux up and running. You can download the latest version of Kali Linux from the official website (https://www.kali.org/downloads/).
- Access to the internet: You will need an active internet connection to download and install Python packages and dependencies.
- Sufficient disk space: You will need enough disk space to install Python and any required packages. The exact amount of disk space required will depend on which version of Python you are installing and which packages you need to install.
- Permission to install packages: You will need administrative privileges to install Python and any required packages. You can use the sudo command to run commands with elevated privileges.
- Optional: A text editor or IDE: While not strictly required to install Python, you will likely want to use a text editor or integrated development environment (IDE) to write and run Python code. Some popular choices include Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, and Sublime Text.
Overall, installing Python on Kali Linux is a straightforward process that should only take a few minutes, assuming you meet the above requirements.
How To Install Python on Kali Linux (2023 Guide)
Follow this step-by-step guide to Install or Update Python on your favorite hacking distro, Kali Linux!
Kali Linux is a secure distribution of Linux which has been derived from Debian and designed especially for system forensics, hacking and advanced penetration testing. It was developed through the rewriting of BackTrack which is now discontinued. It carries different tools which are designed for different information security tasks like testing, penetration, security research, reverse engineering and computer forensics. This article covers all the steps on how to Install Python on Kali Linux.
If you have Python 3.9, 3.8 or 3.7 already installed, we also show you how to upgrade Python on Kali Linux if you want to go to Python 3.10.
Why Install and use Python on Kali Linux
Kali Linux is an operating system specifically developed for ethical hackers. It is used by thousands of hackers and companies around the world to penetration test and breaks into their networks. It is popular among such audiences due to the various hacking tools it comes packaged with such as Wireshark and Nmap.
This is a bold distribution that has to be disproven. It has more than 580 pre-installed penetration-testing apps in order to discover. Every program comes with its unique flexibility and uses case.
Python is used a lot of scripting and automation and it has various libraries that work with Linux, hence why many security professionals use Python to create scripts used for hacking purposes that they may create based on a vulnerability.
Below are four different categories of the security professional where Python is used:
- Black hat hackers use Python to discover and exploit vulnerabilities, it comes with many network, malware analysis and security libraries that can be utilized by them to compromise an individual or organization. They can also download such applications off the shelf to use to get into a server or device.
- Forensic engineers, propose a forensic mode through which they can perform data discovery and recovery in some instances. Python has a famous imaging library called “PIL” which stands for “Python Imaging Library” which is used in AI/ML imaging applications.
- Security administrators or IT admins are responsible to safeguard both the information and data of their institution so doing this involves running security tests. What they do is use ready-made and custom Python scripts to review the environment and make sure that there are no vulnerabilities that are discovered easily. Many have automated scripts that they run for example to check for missing patches, open ports and out-of-date software.
- Penetration testers working independently or for bug bounty programs use Kali to perform monitoring and social engineering on businesses. They can check for vulnerabilities, default admin accounts, backups that are not encrypted and passwords, and pages open to the public that shouldn’t be!
How to Install or Upgrade Python on Kali Linux (Python 3.9, 3.8, 3.7)
One of the widely used high-level and object-oriented languages has become famous for beginners and experienced programmers for being simple and open-source for a big community. With this, you can build all kinds of apps, from small, simple scripts to complex machine learning-based issues.
Version 3.7 which is old can be installed using the apt package manager directly. Python 3.9 which is stable has been launched with improvements and security updates. The company has added different new modules and extended the existing modules with extra features.
A gentle reminder, Python 3.9 can’t be installed from standard Kali Linux repositories but can be installed from the original source once you add it.
Let’s see how to install Python 3.9 on Kali Linux from the terminal. All the commands shall be implemented in the Kali terminal so it is the same for you. So, you need to open the terminal app by clicking Ctrl + Alt + t from the keyboard in Kali.
Step 1: Install necessary packages in Kali core:
You first need to install all the packages and dependencies which are needed to build the source of python, so, to install the required packages follow the command below:
Now you need to upgrade Python on Kali Linux:
Step 2: Download the latest Python release for Kali Linux:
You need to have the latest python release from the python download page, for this you need to use the “curl” command to download the python release or alternatively the way shown in the image:
[email protected]:~#curl https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.1/Python-3.9.1.tgz Step 3: Extract the installer file
Once the process of download has been completed, the file shall be saved into the tar extension. Extract the file by using the command below with Tar or you can use alternatives such as p7zip.
You need to navigate to the following directory of Python
By executing this, run the following configuration script in order to prepare your system for Python source code compilation
[email protected]:~#./configure –enable-optimizations If you have issues running it, please run the below command to fix the permissions:
[email protected]:~#chmod +x ./configure –enable-optimizations This shall perform many checks to ensure that all the dependencies are installed on the system. The -enable-optimization is used here to optimize the Python binary by executing many different tests. This sets various variables according to best practices identified by the Python community over the years.
Step 4: Finally, now install Python on Kali Linux
At this point you need to start with the build process by running the command mentioned below:
You shall modify –j in accordance with the cores of the processor. My own laptop has a quad-core so it will be -j4 for me.
As the build process is completed, you need to run altinstall in order to Install python binaries on Kali Linux:
Keep in mind to never use “make install” to install binaries as it will automatically overwrite the binary files.
Finished! Python has now been installed on Kali Linux. You can now check the version by running the command below if you want to verify it:
Similar Python installation articles:
Conclusion
This article covered extensively all the major instructions required to Install Python on Kali Linux. Python is without a doubt a very powerful scripting language but it still isn’t available or installed by default with operating systems, hence you have to manually install it.
Do let me know in the comments area below how easy you find the above and why you choose Python over any other language.