Switch between Python versions as non root

Question

I just installed Python 2.7 in our server, they had 2.4 installed before hand.

After I built the new version, my path is still pointing to the old version of python,

Answer 1

Because you are on the server and don't have root permissions, the best choice for you is to use virtualenv

Build Python 2.7, for example, as following:

$ ./configure --prefix=~/mydir
$ make
$ make install

Download virtualen.py file and run:

$ ~/mydir/bin/python virtualenv.py my_environment

This will create an isolated Python 2.7 environment for you inside my_environment directory.

To activate it run source my_environment/bin/activate and that's it. Now python executable will be your Python 2.7. Additionally you will have pip installed and thus can easily install any additional libraries into your environment.