this is a repost from my old site.

I’ve created RPMs for RHEL 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3, as well as CentOS 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2 for Python 2.5 and 2.6.

The RHEL/CentOS line only supports Python 2.4, and as it’s an integral part of yum and many other packages, any installation of new Pythons will require parallel installation.

(Note : Currently, the 2.5 and 2.6 RPMs cannot both be installed without an RPM –force)

TODO : Repository URL & GPG signing

As for the RPMs themselves :

Download

• Python 2.6 – Built from Fedora Core 11 Alpha
  • python26-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • python26-debuginfo-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • python26-devel-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • python26-libs-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • python26-test-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • python26-tools-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • tkinter26-2.6-geekymedia1.i386.rpm
  • python26-2.6-geekymedia1.src.rpm
• Python 2.51 – Built from Fedora Core 10 (by Bashton)
  • python25-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • python25-debuginfo-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • python25-devel-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • python25-libs-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • python25-test-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • python25-tools-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • tkinter25-2.5.1-bashton1.i386.rpm
  • python25-2.5.1-bashton1.src.rpm

Caveats

Neither of these packages fully pass the Python test suite (import test.autotest).

That being said, we’ve been using the Python 2.5 package, released by Bashton, in production for a while now, and we haven’t seen any problems.

4 tests failed: test_distutils test_email test_email_renamed test_nis

I don’t know about email, but there are patches for CentOS/Fedora against distutils, so I expect that’s why it fails the test.

For Python 2.6, note the following :

• I had to gimp autoconf’s version detection to force it to use 2.59. This may have unintended consequences
• This RPM uses patches from the Fedora Core 11 Alpha release. (python-2.6-4.fc11 specifically). As Fedora updates this package, I’ll release updates. (Feel free to email to remind.)

Usage

Just install the RPMs for the version that you want. You’ll need at least the base python version package and the libs package.
To start Python 2.6, type python26 at your commandline rather than python. (Your original Python 2.4 is still installed.)
If you’re installing packages with setuptools, make sure to use the correct python version. (i.e. python26 setup.py install)
If you’d like to build an x86_64, call rpmbuild –rebuild with the appropriate arch setting.