>But it has been irritating me more that benefiting me, because apparently I need to recompile Python on every new patch release
You don't.
You don't.
What happens if you install Python X.Y.Z with pyenv and then don't update to X.Y.Z+1? Who'd force you to update or recompile Python?
Or do you mean you use pyenv to handle multiple Python versions in production servers?
I generally thought it was best practice to always update to the latest patch release. I mean, that's what `apt` is doing for the system-installed version.
Well, if it's publicly accessible, yes. Though even there you don't just "update to the latest patch release" you need to check it first (at least with your test suite), it might break your functionality and even introduce security issues due to that, regardless of what the upstream "semantic" versioning implies.