HELP! Installing BeOPEN Python 2.0 on Red Hat 7.0

[Sean Reifschneider]

On Tue, Apr 03, 2001 at 11:12:15AM +1000, Bob Kummerfeld wrote:
>I suggest you stay with the Python (1.5.2) that comes with Red Hat 7.0.
>Getting Python 2.0 to work is possible but not easy for a Linux novice!

The bigger problem being that upgrading to a newer Python may break the
Redhat control panels that the novice would tend to use.  Probably the
easiest way to do it is to get my 2.0 or 2.1 SRPMs from
ftp://ftp.tummy.com/pub/tummy/RPMS/SRPMS -- once you download the
appropriate SRPM, do a "rpm --rebuild whatever.src.rpm".  That will build
the binary RPM and save it under /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386.

Installing that will give you a /usr/bin/python2 binary -- so you'll have
to call it as "python2", but it won't interfere with the default python
install.

Note that you'll probably want to pick up the errata from
updates.redhat.com.  I'd recommend getting them all, but I think the glibc
updates will get you to the point where you can compile Python.  You're
vulnerable to the various worms that have been prowling around.  Don't
install or upgrade the kernel packages unless you know what you're doing
though -- the rest should be relatively safe though.

>To get it work I had to download the stable version of gcc (source code)
>and build it, because the gcc delivered with Red Hat is an experimental

<shrug> Works fine for me.  If you don't follow errata, your compiler or
libraries not working as you expect are the least of your problems.

>Alternatively, move to a better Linux distribution eg Mandrake or
>Debian.

Moving to another distribution is no solution for not keeping up with
errata.  Well, unless you subscribe to KRUD, that is.  ;-)

Sean
-- 
 Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
                 -- Gregory Benford
Sean Reifschneider, Inimitably Superfluous <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com - Linux Consulting since 1995. Qmail, KRUD, Firewalls, Python