I have 2 versions of python installed, but cmake is using older version. How do I force cmake to use the newer version?

Question

I have 2 versions of python installed, but cmake is using older version. How do I force cmake to use the newer version?

Answer 1

You may try either of these depending on what you need:

For CMake >= 3.12

According to the changelog:

New "FindPython3" and "FindPython2" modules, as well as a new
"FindPython" module, have been added to provide a new way to locate
python environments.

find_package(Python COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)

Docs:

This module looks preferably for version 3 of Python. If not found, version 2 is searched. To manage concurrent versions 3 and 2 of Python, use FindPython3 and FindPython2 modules rather than this one.

For CMake < 3.12

Docs:

find_package(PythonInterp 2.7 REQUIRED)
find_package(PythonLibs 2.7 REQUIRED)