Confused updating 2.3 to 2.4 on Linux

[Glen]

Being a new'ish user to both Linux and Python, I've been 'happily'
learning Python (2.3) with Idle and Tkinter as installed with Mandrake
10.
Thought I would try installing Python 2.4 (to completely replace 2.3)
(first time I've tried installing anything from source)

Followed the readme file (all done from my 'home' directory),

tar -zxvf Python-2.4.tgz
./configure
make
make test (2 skips unexpected on linux2:test_bz2 test_gdbm)
make install

Although I wasn't sure about some of the directory references,
'type "./configure" in the current directory'
'type "make" in the toplevel directory'.

All seemed to work without any errors, but starting Python from Idle
or a console displays the same statup text,

Python 2.3.3 (#2, Feb 17 2004, 11:45:40)
[GCC 3.3.2 (Mandrake Linux 10.0 3.3.2-6mdk)] on linux2

'which python' shows /usr/bin/python, and this file has not been updated

Is there something else I should do?
Also 'IF' I get 2.4 working, will Tkinter/Idle need any additional
installation work, or is it all done through the Python 2.4 installation

[Mike Meyer]

Glen <st*****@tesco.net> writes:

Being a new'ish user to both Linux and Python, I've been 'happily'
learning Python (2.3) with Idle and Tkinter as installed with Mandrake
10.
All seemed to work without any errors, but starting Python from Idle
or a console displays the same statup text,

Python 2.3.3 (#2, Feb 17 2004, 11:45:40)
[GCC 3.3.2 (Mandrake Linux 10.0 3.3.2-6mdk)] on linux2

'which python' shows /usr/bin/python, and this file has not been updated

Is there something else I should do?

The default install location for python is /usr/local, not /usr. You
can change your PATH so that /usr/local/bin precedes /usr/bin, and
then you'll get the new Python.

BTW, installing a new python doesn't "completely replace" the old
python on Unix systems. Python installs everything but one file in
directories that include the version number, so that people (mostly
developers) can keep multiple versions around with no problem. The one
exception is bin/python, which is a hard link to the last python you
installed.

If you look, you'll find /usr/lib/python2.3, /usr/include/python2.3,
/usr/local/lib/python2.4, /usr/local/include/python2.4,
/usr/bin/python2.3, /usr/local/bin/python2.3, /usr/bin/python (the
same as /usr/bin/python2.3) and /usr/local/bin/python (which is the
same as /usr/local/bin/python2.4).

If you want, you can rebuild python with:

./configure --prefix=/usr
make install

and it will put the directories in parallel with the old ones, instead
of putting them in /usr/local.

<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mw*@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.

[Glen]

> > Being a new'ish user to both Linux and Python, I've been 'happily'

learning Python (2.3) with Idle and Tkinter as installed with Mandrake
10.
All seemed to work without any errors, but starting Python from Idle
or a console displays the same statup text,

Python 2.3.3 (#2, Feb 17 2004, 11:45:40)
[GCC 3.3.2 (Mandrake Linux 10.0 3.3.2-6mdk)] on linux2

'which python' shows /usr/bin/python, and this file has not been updated

Is there something else I should do?

The default install location for python is /usr/local, not /usr. You
can change your PATH so that /usr/local/bin precedes /usr/bin, and
then you'll get the new Python.

BTW, installing a new python doesn't "completely replace" the old
python on Unix systems. Python installs everything but one file in
directories that include the version number, so that people (mostly
developers) can keep multiple versions around with no problem. The one
exception is bin/python, which is a hard link to the last python you
installed.

If you look, you'll find /usr/lib/python2.3, /usr/include/python2.3,
/usr/local/lib/python2.4, /usr/local/include/python2.4,
/usr/bin/python2.3, /usr/local/bin/python2.3, /usr/bin/python (the
same as /usr/bin/python2.3) and /usr/local/bin/python (which is the
same as /usr/local/bin/python2.4).

If you want, you can rebuild python with:

./configure --prefix=/usr
make install

and it will put the directories in parallel with the old ones, instead
of putting them in /usr/local.

<mike

Thanks Mike, that's great