# Python 2.6 support removed **URL:** \ **Category:** Issuance Tech\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046 "2015-09-16T04:13:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eva2000](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/eva2000/32/289_2.png) [@eva2000](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/eva2000)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/1 "2015-09-16T04:13:15Z")
Seems Letsencrypt client will have Python 2.6 support removed for launch [https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt/pull/630](https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt/pull/630) and [https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt/commit/d55c3e64c02ece84d3bb490be400a82e2069fc9b](https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt/commit/d55c3e64c02ece84d3bb490be400a82e2069fc9b) @schoen I’d definitely make a clear note in FAQ and documentation as some folks may run into issues i.e. CentOS 6.x defaults to Python 2.6 out of the box. While CentOS 7.x defaults to Python 2.7.x. For CentOS 6.x folks they’d need something like IUS Community YUM repo for side by side install of Python 2.7 [https://iuscommunity.org/pages/Repos.html](https://iuscommunity.org/pages/Repos.html) ---
**Author:** ![NOYB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/noyb/32/247_2.png) [@NOYB](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/NOYB)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/2 "2015-09-16T04:34:38Z")
Is Python 2.6 what’s included in the CentOS 6 distro? Is there a Python 2.7 package available for CentOS 6? ---
**Author:** ![eva2000](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/eva2000/32/289_2.png) [@eva2000](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/eva2000)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/3 "2015-09-16T04:50:11Z")
Yup CentOS 6.x has Python 2.6 system package only. You can install a 3rd party YUM repo like IUS Community [https://iuscommunity.org/pages/Repos.html](https://iuscommunity.org/pages/Repos.html) which is backed by folks at [Rackspace.com](http://Rackspace.com) Once IUS Community YUM repo is installed you can install Python 2.7 via yum ``` yum -y install python27 python27-devel python27-pip python27-setuptools python27-tools python27-virtualenv --enablerepo=ius ``` so you can call python 2.7 via python2.7 command ``` python2.7 --version Python 2.7.10 ``` so instead of ``` virtualenv --no-site-packages -p python2 venv ``` use ``` virtualenv --no-site-packages -p python2.7 venv ``` FYI, IUS Community Repo requires the EPEL YUM Repo installed too. ``` yum -y install epel-release ``` ---
**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:13am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/4 "2015-09-16T06:13:03Z")
Note that there is currently no code checked in that requires Python 2.7 and there is no specific Python feature that we will necessarily require that is incompatible with 2.6. We are not sure which versions of Python we will target for launch. I’m going to try to have a CentOS 6 image running tests; if there’s a minor incompatibility with 2.6 then we may still be able to notice it and work around it. ---
**Author:** ![Touma](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/touma/32/7690_2.png) [@Touma](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Touma)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:55am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/5 "2015-09-16T06:55:10Z")
Dropping support for 2.6 is smart as there were a lot of bugs in 2.6 that where fixed in 2.7 ---
**Author:** ![doetje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@doetje](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/doetje)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/6 "2015-09-16T11:39:53Z")
A little remark here, RedHat/CentOS does provide a Python 2.7 packageset in their Software Collections (SC) See [here](https://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/SCL#head-9ed924f92e0fcb893a70fa5f5b333b5ca0d8beb8), [here](https://www.softwarecollections.org/en/scls/rhscl/python27/), etc. Sometimes a bit convoluted to get it to work, but this way it’s possible to have both versions installed side by side and leave all existing software/scripts using 2.6 unaffected. ---
**Author:** ![eva2000](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/eva2000/32/289_2.png) [@eva2000](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/eva2000)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/python-2-6-support-removed/1046/7 "2015-09-16T19:29:13Z")
> [@doetje](#): > > Sometimes a bit convoluted to get it to work indeed it is.. that's why I opted for IUS Community package install above.. it's still a side install so doesn't touch Python 2.6 on CentOS6.x but installs Python 2.7 side by side 🙂