Maintaining Multiple Copies of Python (Linux)

[nfitzkee at gmail.com]

Hi all,

For various reasons, I would like to maintain multiple copies of python on my (Ubuntu 12.04) linux system.  This is primarily for scientific software development; several modules require different configuration options than are installed on the 'vanilla' python included in the Ubuntu distribution, and I don't want to disturb that version in case something would interfere with the OS.

I can compile python 2.7 and put it in /usr/local, but when I do that it can lead to confusion about what version is being run, particularly if my group members don't have their paths set correctly.  Renaming the binaries alone is a partial solution, but that won't work for the library and include directories.

Is there a way to configure the distribution at compile time to resolve the ambiguity?  For example, could I specify an option to "configure" that appends a prefix to all of the created python binaries, etc.?  In this case, it might create "my-python2.7" "my-python" and "my-idle" (etc.) in /usr/local/bin, along with storing libraries in /usr/local/lib/my-python2.7/.  Thus, the my-python programs would be 100% independent from the OS python, and they would be independent from other local builds as well.

I apologize if this answer is covered elsewhere; so far my google searches have not turned up anything.

Thanks,
Nick