General DietPI Issues 6.25 - Home Assistant / Node-red / Python

Not my first go around with DietPI but it is my first time trying to get Home Assistant and Node-Red running on a single RP3.
So i first installed Home Assistant using DP installer. This worked great! After configuring some devices in HA I then tried to update Python as the version DP installs is old and doesn’t support a Roku device I was trying to use, among others. I attempted to update Python and had no luck which was probably my fault but I finally gave up, removed the DietPI HA and installed Python3 from scratch along with HA into a virtual Python3 environment (similar to the DP HA install). All was great.

And then looked at installing Node-Red. I saw there was a DP package but I thought I may as well just install this myself too, since HA was also installed outside DP at this point. So I started to follow the instructions here - https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/raspberrypi. That ended quickly when the script came back and said please installed using DP installer. Soooooo I installed DP Node-Red. For some reason DP install Python 2.x again. UGH, HA / Roku broken again. So I manually removed Python 2.x only and HA / Roku was again happy. I then checked on Node-Red and all appears good. So I have a bastardized hyrid install.

I guess what I am hoping to get out of this post is some understanding. Understanding as to why python is installed with these apps rather than as a stand alone install and why when a newer version of python is already installed does DP not notice and at least offer to use it? What am I missing here. Is this strictly to newbie proof the DP app installs? I realize it takes time to update all these installers so I am not complaining as I can work around the issues, just trying to see if I am being a total idiot here or missing something obvious.

Have you looked at OpenHAB?

Perhaps downloading and compiling might help
https://liftcodeplay.com/2017/06/30/how-to-install-python-3-6-on-raspbian-linux-for-raspberry-pi/

Perhaps compile Python 3.7/3.8 directly…then try the Node-red install
https://www.scivision.dev/compile-install-python-beta-raspberry-pi/

Some apps need certain version of Python and you can have several versions installed and get the app to use the one it needs through its startup script, but one must be the sytem default. It is a complex area but there is plenty of good info in Debian and Ubuntu forums. Don’t uninstall Python as it can make your system unusable.

John