title: Can I install python 3.7 in ubuntu 18.04 without having python 3.6 in the system?
body: <p>Please read the question carefully before closing as duplicate, I believe the use case to be unique.</p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to create a docker image that <strong>only has python 3.7 installed</strong>, the problem is that if I try to install pip, the command also installs python 3.6 which <strong>I do not want</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>The relevant part of the ideal docker file I'm tinkering is as follows</p>
  
  <pre><code>FROM ubuntu:18.04
  
  # Upgrade installed packages
  RUN apt-get update &amp;&amp; apt-get upgrade -y &amp;&amp; apt-get clean
  
  # (...)
  
  # Python package management and basic dependencies
  RUN apt-get install -y python3.7 python3.7-dev python3.7-pip
  
  # Register the version in alternatives
  RUN update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.7 1
  
  # Set python 3 as the default python
  RUN update-alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python3.7
  
  # Upgrade pip to latest version
  RUN python -m ensurepip --upgrade
  
  # (...)
  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This would fail as <em>python3.7-pip</em> doesn't seem to exist; only <em>python3-pip</em> does, which is what installs python 3.6 for some reason.</p>
  
  <p>I tried not installing pip at all and doing it manually, like so</p>
  
  <pre><code># (...)
  
  RUN apt-get install -y python3.7 python3.7-dev
  
  # (...)
  
  RUN curl 'https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py' &gt; get-pip.py
  
  RUN python get-pip.py pip --no-setuptools --no-wheel
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which fails with this error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "get-pip.py", line 21492, in &lt;module&gt;
      main()
    File "get-pip.py", line 197, in main
      bootstrap(tmpdir=tmpdir)
    File "get-pip.py", line 82, in bootstrap
      import pip._internal
    File "/tmp/tmpbez2vju9/pip.zip/pip/_internal/__init__.py", line 40, in &lt;module&gt;
    File "/tmp/tmpbez2vju9/pip.zip/pip/_internal/cli/autocompletion.py", line 8, in &lt;module&gt;
    File "/tmp/tmpbez2vju9/pip.zip/pip/_internal/cli/main_parser.py", line 8, in &lt;module&gt;
    File "/tmp/tmpbez2vju9/pip.zip/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py", line 14, in &lt;module&gt;
  ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.util'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Again, installing python3-distutils results in python 3.6 appearing in the system</p>
  
  <p>So, is there a way to install ONLY a fully functional python 3.7 in ubuntu 18.04, WITHOUT having to install python 3.6?</p>