Using system python vs. updated/current version

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 7:35 PM, memilanuk <memilanuk at gmail.com> wrote:
> Also... in some places in the 'Net I see references to installing
> everything 'locally' via pip, etc. in virtualenvs and not touching the
> system installed version of python... yet most linux distros seem to
> have many/most such packages available in their package repos, which
> seems like it'd be easier to install via the package manager and let it
> keep things updated.  Could someone touch on what they feel the pros and
> cons would be either way?

I personally like to compile some things from source (CPython, Pike,
etc - though not everything, I use a prepackaged PostgreSQL, for
instance). There's no harm in installing a new CPython on a Linux box
- just type 'sudo make altinstall' (or however you become root), and
it'll give you a binary called python3.4 or whatever version, without
touching your system Python. That lets you run as many versions as you
like, in parallel, though you may have issues running 3.3.0 and 3.3.2
(but there should be no reason to do so - just use 3.3.2).

ChrisA