Moving away from previous tread (using rpm).
The issue: I need to add python2.6 to RHEL55/SL55 that is based on python2.4.3 to utilize the full functionality of another program. Since I already killed one system by replacing the default python version (previous tread), I asked developers how to safely enable already installed 2.6 without crashing the system. Here is the quoted reply:

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You could install 'python26' from EPEL[1], presumably this does not break /usr/bin/python since it installs the new version as /usr/bin/python2.6. Then as the user which runs Galaxy, do something like this:

$ mkdir $HOME/bin
$ ln -s /usr/bin/python2.6 $HOME/bin/python $ export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH $ echo 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> $HOME/.bash_profile

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Two questions:

-what is your opinion about safety of this action? I was already advised to keep 2.6 out of system's sight.

- in /usr/bin I already found 4 files python2, pythion2.4, python2.6 and python26. The active version (python -V) is 2.4.3. Why I have 2.6 and 26 there after one installation and how to figure out which is actually needed if I want to enable 2.6 (or is it 26)?

Thanks a lot.

Hello,

The developers on the project I work for use python26-2.6.5-3.el5.x86_64.rpm. I install it using kickstart on a RHEL 5.5 system in production environment without any problems as a regular RPM with
It installs without any problem besides the default in RHEL included version 2.4.3-27. Executing
gives me
while
gives as output
In all their code they use the python26 environment and we haven't encountered problems yet. Of course, the more versions you install, the more complicated and confusing your environment will be. Try to stick what you need and you shouldn't have any problems.

Kind regards,

Eric