How do I install Python 2.6?

Question

I'm very new in Ubuntu,also in Linux. I've just installed Ubuntu 11.04 which comes with python 2.7 by default. But I want to install python 2.6, how am I about to do that? Thanks.

Answer 1

You can install python 2.6 by running this command clicking this link: python2.6

Or by typing this command in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install python2.6

Answer 2

Get pythonbrew. This should let you run 2.6 and 2.7 side by side.

pythonbrew install 2.6
pythonbrew switch 2.6

Answer 3

Just to list all the options: just pulling down a source tarball from python.org, unpacking it and compiling your own python interpreter is also easy and is actually what real men do :) You can install it in a separate directory so it doesn't interfere with the system python. Messing with system python is dangerous because lots of Ubuntu programs use it. So something like this:

sudo apt-get install build-essential
wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.6.7/Python-2.6.7.tar.bz2
tar jxf ./Python-2.6.7.tar.bz2
cd ./Python-2.6.7
./configure --prefix=~/mypython && make && make install

would build you your own Python which you'll be able to invoke as

./mypython/bin/python2.6

Supposedly, pythonbrew (mentioned in the other answer) may automate the process a bit, but it's really not that complex