nfitz...@gmail.com writes: > For various reasons, I would like to maintain multiple copies of > python on my (Ubuntu 12.04) linux system. This is primarily for > scientific software development; several modules require different > configuration options than are installed on the 'vanilla' python > included in the Ubuntu distribution, and I don't want to disturb that > version in case something would interfere with the OS.
The consensus solution for this is ‘virtualenv’ <URL:http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv>. It is so popular as a solution for the kinds of problems you describe that its functionality will come into core Python, as discussed in PEP 405 <URL:http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0405/>, for Python 3.3. Until you start using Python 3.3, you can install ‘virtualenv’ as a third-party package. -- \ “The difference between religions and cults is determined by | `\ how much real estate is owned.” —Frank Zappa | _o__) | Ben Finney -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list