I am attempting to upgrade python3.7 to 3.8 on ubuntu. After using
sudo apt install python3.8
python -V and python3 -V both point to Python 3.7.0. This should have been because I haven't updated the alternatives, but running
sudo update-alternatives --config python
says that I have no alternatives to configure. I look into the file system and can only find files labelled 3.8, none labelled 3.7, yet python -V says the current version is 3.7.0.
I followed a solution here to install 3.8 from the zip file, and now, python3.8 -V says I have a version 3.8.3. Indeed, I now have files labelled 3.8 and 3.8.3 in the file system. However, update-alternatives still says there are no alternatives. I run the following two config commands anyway, of which the first gives no error, the second says there are no alternatives.
sudo update-alternatives --set python3 /usr/bin/python3.8
sudo update-alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python3.8
python --version still says it is running 3.7.0
I have read that it isn't a good course of action to attempt to remove python entirely and start from scratch and I am aware that I have probably done things I shouldn't have to get into this mess, but is there anything I can do to fix it without wiping the laptop??