diff --git a/Berksfile b/Berksfile
index 4e3dece..bfc33ee 100644
--- a/Berksfile
+++ b/Berksfile
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ group :integration do
   cookbook "yum"
   cookbook "build-essential"
   cookbook "python_test", :path => "./test/cookbooks/python_test"
-  cookbook 'alternatives', github: 'vkhatri/chef-alternatives',  tag: "v0.2.0"
+  cookbook 'alternatives', git: 'https://github.com/vkhatri/chef-alternatives',  tag: "v0.2.0"
 end
diff --git a/recipes/pip.rb b/recipes/pip.rb
index 9051f27..f8d9c99 100644
--- a/recipes/pip.rb
+++ b/recipes/pip.rb
@@ -39,15 +39,12 @@
   not_if { ::File.exists?(pip_binary) }
 end
 
+#because the latest version of the get-pip.py script requires >=python3.7, this is now hardcoded to the 3.6 version as recommended by pypa.io
 execute "install-pip" do
   cwd Chef::Config[:file_cache_path]
   command <<-EOF
   #{node['python']['binary']} get-pip.py
   EOF
-  command 'sudo curl -s -N https://bootstrap.pypa.io/ez_setup.py -o - | sudo python3.6 && sudo python3.6 -m easy_install pip'
+  command 'sudo curl -s -N https://bootstrap.pypa.io/ez_setup.py -o - | sudo python3.6 && curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/3.6/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py && sudo python3.6 get-pip.py'
   not_if { ::File.exists?(pip_binary) }
 end
-
-execute 'setuptools' do
-  command 'pip3 install setuptools==41.0.1'
-end
diff --git a/recipes/python.rb b/recipes/python.rb
index c8b5a6e..bd4d269 100644
--- a/recipes/python.rb
+++ b/recipes/python.rb
@@ -1,26 +1,32 @@
-apt_repository "python3" do
-    uri 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu'
-    components ['trusty main']
+#Add in the deadsnakes ppa repository to app
+#note the fkrull/deadsnakes url is correct for Ubuntu 14.04. For higher versions of Ubuntu (>16.0), this is instead "ppa:deadsnakes/ppa"
+bash 'add deadsnakes ppa' do
+    code <<-EOH
+    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fkrull/deadsnakes -y;
+    EOH
+    flags "-x"
 end
 
-
-execute "update" do
-    command 'sudo apt-get update'
-end
-
-package 'python3.6' do
-    options '--force-yes'
-    action :install
+#Update the apt repository list
+bash 'update apt-get repos' do
+    code <<-EOH
+    sudo apt update;
+    EOH
+    flags "-x"
 end
 
-package 'python3.6-dev' do
-    options '--force-yes'
-    action :install
+#install python3.6 and python3.6-dev via apt
+#note that this is using the fkrull/deadsnakes repository listed above
+bash 'install python3.6' do
+    code <<-EOH
+    sudo apt-get purge python3.6;
+    sudo apt-get autoremove && sudo apt-get autoclean;
+    sudo apt install python3.6 -y --force-yes;
+    sudo apt install python3.6-dev -y --force-yes;
+    sudo apt install python3.6-venv -y --force-yes;
+    sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.6 1
+    
+    sudo cp /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt_pkg.cpython* /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt_pkg.so;
+    EOH
+    flags "-x"
 end
-
-alternatives 'python-set-version-3' do
-    link_name 'python3'
-    path '/usr/bin/python3.6'
-    priority 100
-    action :install
-end
\ No newline at end of file