Installing Python 2.6 on Debian Lenny
Posted by Freelander | Filed under Howto Articles
Debian has always been my number one linux choice due to its stability on a server. Most of other linux distributions release new versions too frequently, in my opinion, while there are bugs still unfixed with the existing version. Having said that, many people think that packages on Debian stable repositories are out dated. That’s because Debian team makes an extensive testing before adding a new package to their repository as security is their first priority.
Well, I’m not in rush to test new software packages on my production server as security is also very important for me. However, I recently needed to install Python 2.6 and python-mysqldb on my Debian Lenny box. After some googling I’ve found the best and trouble free method as follows:
Howto install Python 2.6 and python-mysqldb on Debian
The secure way of installing an unstable package is to set up and use apt-pinning. Here are the steps to follow:
open sources.list with your favorite text editor.
#nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Edit your sources.list so it looks like this:
# # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.1 _Lenny_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20090413-22:27]/ lenny main # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.1 _Lenny_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20090413-22:27]/ lenny main deb http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ lenny main deb-src http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ lenny main #testing repository deb http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ testing main deb-src http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ testing main #unstable repository deb http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ unstable main deb-src http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ unstable main deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main deb-src http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main deb-src http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main
You can change the mirrors with your choice if you like. Then create a new file called “preferences” in /etc/apt folder
# nano /etc/apt/preferences
Copy and paste this to your new preferences file.
Package: * Pin: release a=stable Pin-Priority: 700 Package: * Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 650 Package: * Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 600
This file sets your priority order. First stable, then testing and finally unstable. The last step before installing new packages is to update your repositories.
# apt-get update
If no python is installed yet install Python2.5 first.
# apt-get install python python-central
Now you can install Python2.6 testing:
# aptitude install -t testing python-central
# aptitude install python2.6/testing
Making Python2.6 System Default
Open and edit /usr/share/python/debian_defaults
# nano /usr/share/python/debian_defaults
Make the following changes:
[DEFAULT] # the default python version default-version = python2.6 # all supported python versions supported-versions = python2.5, python2.6 # formerly supported python versions old-versions = python2.4 # unsupported versions, including older versions unsupported-versions = python2.4
Finally change your symlink so it points to Python2.6:
# rm /usr/bin/python
# ln -s /usr/bin/python2.6 /usr/bin/python
That’s it! We’ll install python-mysqldb now.
Installing python-mysqldb
If you have python-mysqldb package installed already you need to uninstall it first.
# apt-get purge python-mysqldb
Now you can install the testing version of python-mysqldb to work with python2.6
# apt-get -t testing install python-mysqldb
ALL DONE! If you have a better and more secure way feel free to post your solution here!
Source:http://code.reddit.com/wiki/DependenciesOnDebian5
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June 8th, 2011 at 6:26 PM
thank’s a lot for your procedure ..
June 22nd, 2011 at 4:45 PM
thank’s!
but be careful with dependencies,
after getting python2.6 i needed libxslt and first setting up attempt had led me to system crush ((