Build different versions of python locally with virtual environments.
This tool downloads, builds and installs a particular version of python in the location of your choice without requiring root permissions. It also creates a virtual environment that you can activate to use it.
It is very useful for staging tests.
I have tested it on CentOS 6.6 linux and Mac OS X 10.10.3.
Here is an example that shows how to install 2.7.10 and 3.4.3 in a local directory tree.
$ # Create the top level work directory.
$ mkdir ~/work/python
$ # Downlod pybld.sh, make sure that it is executable.
$ curl -k -L -O http://projects.joelinoff.com/pybld/pybld.sh
$ sum pybld.sh
08374 12
$ chmod a+x pybld.sh
$ # Build Python 2.7.10 and test.
$ ./pybld.sh -v 2.7.10 -b 2.7.10/bld -r 2.7.10
[output_snipped]
$ # test it
$ source 2.7.10/venv/python2710/bin/activate
(python2710)$ python --version
Python 2.7.10
(python2710)$ pip2 freeze # installed packages for this release
[output snipped]
(python2710)$ deactivate
$ # Build Python 3.4.3 and test.
$ ./pybld.sh -v 3.4.3 -b 3.4.3/bld -r 3.4.3
[output snipped]
$ # test it
$ source 3.4.3/venv/python343/bin/activate
(python343) python --version
Python 3.4.3
(python343) pip3 freeze # installed packages for this release
[output snipped]
(python343) deactivateTo delete the installed versions of python simply build, release and venv directories.
$ # delete my locally built version of 2.7.9
$ rm -rf ~/work/python/2.7.3If you need to customize the Python build, simply edit the script and change the configure command around line 316.
You can search for the line that contains "runcmd ./configure --prefix".