How to install Python without root priviledges ?

[Paul Boddie]

"Chandan Mathur" <chandan_mathur at hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<3cf866fa at news.poly.edu>...
> you have done the right thing.., only without SU priviliges, I think you can
> run python only on the directory Python-2.2.1 as follows,  ./python
> I have the same problem... and it really sucks :-(

Just to clear up this misinformation, inside the 'Python-2.2.1'
directory you should issue the following commands:

  ./configure --prefix=/home/myuser/local
  make
  make install

You get to choose the prefix directory, but let's go off the example
given before - you've set up a 'local' directory in your own home
directory.

Now set up your path. This does require some knowledge of your UNIX
environment, but guessing that you're using 'bash', I would suggest
adding the following line to '/home/myuser/.bashrc':

  export PATH=/home/myuser/local/bin:${PATH}

This won't take effect straight away and I've never had too much luck
with re-reading the shell configuration, so just issue that command at
the shell prompt or restart your shell. You should now be able to
start 'python'.

Paul

P.S. This is undoubtedly covered in the documentation. Indeed, it's
probably in the "instuctions for the impatient" section at the very
start of the 'INSTALL' file...