Azure DevOps Pipeline Agent.ToolsDirectory error on self-hosted agent LINUX- RHEL 9 while setting up python under Tool Cache

I have a self-hosted agent that has Python3.9.18 installed which comes as part of RHEL 9 Image. Everytime I run the pipeline I get an error.

##[error]Version spec 3.9 for architecture x64 did not match any version in Agent.ToolsDirectory.
Versions in /home/<user>/myagent/_work/_tool:
<BLANK>

I have created the folder structure as well

/myagent/_work/_tool/Python/3.9/x64/<tool files> and x64.complete but still no success it doesn't find anything underneath "Agent.ToolsDirectory"

environment variable has been set.

echo $Agent.ToolsDirectory
/home/<user>/myagent/_work/_tool

Could you recommend some options to consider?

What needs to be done for the tool files? What are these files?

Tried options :

• I tried by keeping unzipped python 3.9.18 tar files but no success

• I tried creating a simlink to point _tool to /usr/bin/python where my base python is installed.

• Referred this link and tried setting venv but dnf was not able find and install the package.

• Whenever I tried installing the python to this new _tool directory it just says python already installed.

I am trying to use this task UsePythonVersion@0.

I tested in my self-hosted agent. I can reproduce the issue when I use the version 3.9 in the path.

In the official document How can I configure a self-hosted agent to use this task?, it mentions that

The version number should follow the format of 1.2.3.

As a complete and concrete example, here is how a completed download of Python 3.11.4 for x64 would look in the tool cache:

$AGENT_TOOLSDIRECTORY/
    Python/
        3.11.4/
           x64/
               {tool files}
           x64.complete

So, you should change the /myagent/_work/_tool/Python/3.9/x64/<tool files> to /myagent/_work/_tool/Python/3.9.18/x64/<tool files>.

Update:

You can download the python package version you need in the python-versions releases page or python-versions tags page and unzip it as the {tool files}.

For example:

The x64.complete file is not in the x64 folder.

You can also use the following yaml to check the python files in the Microsoft hosted agent.

pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest

steps:
- task: UsePythonVersion@0
  inputs:
    versionSpec: '3.9' 
    architecture: 'x64' 
- bash: tree  $(Agent.ToolsDirectory)/Python/3.9.19
- task: CopyFiles@2
  inputs:
    SourceFolder: '$(Agent.ToolsDirectory)/Python/3.9.19'
    Contents: '**'
    TargetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    ArtifactName: 'drop'
    publishLocation: 'Container'

The published artifact content: