Dive Into Python

1.5. Python on RedHat Linux

Installing under UNIX-compatible operating systems such as Linux is easy if you're willing to install a binary package. Pre-built binary packages are available for most popular Linux distributions. Or you can always compile from source.

Download the latest Python RPM by going to http://www.python.org/ftp/python/ and selecting the highest version number listed, then selecting the rpms/ directory within that. Then download the RPM with the highest version number. You can install it with the rpm command, as shown here:

Example 1.2. Installing on RedHat Linux 9

localhost:~$ su -
Password: [enter your root password]
[root@localhost root]# wget http://python.org/ftp/python/2.3/rpms/redhat-9/python2.3-2.3-5pydotorg.i386.rpm
Resolving python.org... done.
Connecting to python.org[194.109.137.226]:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7,495,111 [application/octet-stream]
...
[root@localhost root]# rpm -Uvh python2.3-2.3-5pydotorg.i386.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:python2.3              ########################################### [100%]
[root@localhost root]# python          
Python 2.2.2 (#1, Feb 24 2003, 19:13:11)
[GCC 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits", or "license" for more information.
>>> [press Ctrl+D to exit]
[root@localhost root]# python2.3       
Python 2.3 (#1, Sep 12 2003, 10:53:56)
[GCC 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits", or "license" for more information.
>>> [press Ctrl+D to exit]
[root@localhost root]# which python2.3 
/usr/bin/python2.3

	Whoops! Just typing `python` gives you the older version of Python -- the one that was installed by default. That's not the one you want.
	At the time of this writing, the newest version is called `python2.3`. You'll probably want to change the path on the first line of the sample scripts to point to the newer version.
	This is the complete path of the newer version of Python that you just installed. Use this on the `#!` line (the first line of each script) to ensure that scripts are running under the latest version of Python, and be sure to type `python2.3` to get into the interactive shell.