[Zope] HOWTO add a new Python alongside an old

[hpinson at indepthl.com]

After some excellent suggestions, here is one way to add a new Python 
version alongside an old one (as one might need to do in the Fedora 
environment when upgrading Zope.) 

I chose to build a clean version of Python 2.3.4 and run it alongside 
other Python versions that were on the system (2.3.3)

-- Get the version of Python you need from www.python.org (Check 
Zope/Plone dependancies)
-- Put the tarball somewhere, like: /home/myhome/src/python/2.34
-- su to root
$ cd /home/myhome/src/python/2.34
$ gunzip version_of_python.tgz
$ tar -xvf version_of_python.tar
$ cd version_of_python
$ ./configure --prefix=/opt/python2.3.4 (Assuming that's where you 
want to put it. /usr/local could be used as well.)
$ make
$ make install
$ ln -s /opt/python.2.3.4/bin/python2.3 /usr/bin/python2.3.4
$ cd /usr/bin
$ chmod 755 python2.3.4

-- Test: 
$ python2.3.4
You should get a version listing of 2.3.4. Ctrl-D to exit.

To be safe, you should rebuild the Zope extension modules after 
upgrading to the new Python:

$ cd /path/to/Zope/src/
$ configure --prefix=/path/to/ZopeInstallation --with-
python=/opt/python2.3.4/bin/python # + other args 
$ make 
$ make install

-- Then modify zopectl and runzope in /etc/zope-instance/bin to the 
new path to Python 2.3.4. Back these up before making changes.

-- Restart Zope:
$ service zopectl restart (assuming you have created such a service)

Hopefully, Zope will start.




Harlow Pinson
Indepth Learning
Email: hpinson at indepthl.com 
Web: http://www.indepthl.com
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