Python: select one of multiple installed module versions

Question

On my system, I have several modules installed multiple times. To give an example, numpy 1.6.1 is installed in the standard path at /usr/lib/python2.7/dis

Answer 1

Besides the suggestions already given in the comment section, have you thought about using virtualenv? This would give you fine-grained control over every module that you want to use. If you're not familiar with virtualenv you'll want to read the documentation to get a feel for how it works.

Purely for example, you could install and set it up, like so (virtualenv-1.11.6 looks to be the most recent version currently):

$ curl -O https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/v/virtualenv/virtualenv-1.11.6.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz virtualenv-1.11.6.tar.gz
$ cd virtualenv-1.11.6
$ python virtualenv.py ../numpyvenv
$ cd ../numpyvenv
$ source ./bin/activate
(numpyvenv) $ pip install numpy
# downloads, compiles, and installs numpy into the virtual environemnt
(numpyvenv) $ python
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import numpy
>>> numpy.version.version
'1.9.1'
>>> quit()
(numpyvenv) $ deactivate
$ # the virtual environment has been deactivated

Above, we created a virtual environment named "numpyvenv", activated the environment, installed numpy, printed the numpy version (to show it works), quit python, and deactivated the environment. Next time you activate the environment, numpy will be there along with whatever other modules you install. You may run into hiccups while trying this, but it should get you started.