Python’: No Such File or Directory

Youtube-dl is months out of date in the repos so I installed it using this method

(though I changed the location to usr/bin/youtube-dl as that's what which youtube-dl showed)

but then I get

$ youtube-dl
/usr/bin/env: ‘python’: No such file or directory

$ python2 youtube-dl
python2: can't open file 'youtube-dl': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

But it works if I enter

$ python2 /usr/bin/youtube-dl 
Usage: youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]

$ python3 /usr/bin/youtube-dl 
Usage: youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]

I'm using Xubuntu 20.04, could someone tell me how to fix this?

1 Answer

Starting with 20.04 /usr/bin/python is no longer there. And youtube-dl starts with:

#!/usr/bin/env python

So what you can do is create the symbolic link yourself:

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python

And then it should work:

$ youtube-dl
5

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Sarah Jenkins

Sarah Jenkins

Senior Technology Editor & AI Specialist

Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.

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