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My Ubuntu is 14.04, which has Python 2.7.6 by default.

The latest Python 2.x is 2.7.9. I am thinking whether to install 2.7.9 from its official site, just in case that something is available in 2.7.9 but not in 2.7.6?

If I install python 2.7.9, is it a goo uninstall my 2.7.6? Does Ubuntu 14.04 depend on python 2.7.6 specifically?

  1. So I can't uninstall 2.7.6,right?

  2. How can I avoid overwriting my default 2.7.6 when I install 2.7.9 from its source?

  3. If I install 2.7.9, will I have to call it explicitly to distinguish from calling 2.7.6? How can I make it the default one for my use (i.e. the command python will be 2.7.9), while letting the system using 2.7.6 as its default one?

David Foerster
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Tim
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  • @FlorianDiesch: (1) So I can't uninstall 2.7.6,right? (2) If I install 2.7.9, will I have to call it explicitly to distinguish from calling 2.7.6? How can I make it the default one for my use (i.e. the command python will be 2.7.9), while letting the system using 2.7.6 as its default one? – Tim Mar 17 '15 at 12:02
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    If you uninstall the official Python package that would remove all packages that depend on it. /usr/bin/python is used by the programs in the official repository. To change this you need to modify all Python programs which use it. You can use ./configure --prefix=/opt/python-2.7.9/ to install your python into /opt/python-2.7.9/ so it doesn't override the Ubuntu one. If you have more questions about how to compile your own python it's probably better to ask new question about that. – Florian Diesch Mar 17 '15 at 19:23
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    @FlorianDiesch your comment of Mar 17 - 19:23 looks more like an answer than a comment to me. Why not write it up as such? – Elder Geek Mar 21 '15 at 15:42

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You shall have a look at the Changelog for each Version between 2.7.6 to 2.7.9 to see which are actually the changes between the two versions of python:

I use python a lot and I never had problems that the python version of ubuntu is not the latest. When you want to use new features, then you should think about changing to python 3. In this case I recommend you to read Should I use Python 2 or Python 3 for my development activity?.

Stephan Kulla
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