[Python] RedHat: Easiest way to upgrade from Python 2.3 to 2.4

grab the source tarball from python.org, built it according to
instructions (./configure; make), and install using:

# make altinstall

DO NOT do a full install; you'll most likely break RedHat stuff if you
do that.

to access the resulting binary, use "python2.4" instead of "python".

</F>

I was expecting an rpm to do the update. This is a sensitive production
box. I think I should just continue with Python 2.3.

Regards,

The source tar-ball contains an file Misc/RPM/python-XXX.spec that you can use
to build an RPM ("rpmbuild -bs" or "rpm -bs"). The resulting package will
normally be called "python2.4", so if your current installation uses plain
"python" (rpm -q python), you can install it without any problems with
backwards compatibility.

Stefan