Updating Python RHEL6
On RedHat Enterprise Linux 6.x the "default Python version is 2.6.X. Due to the fact that the RHEL package manager (YUM) is dependend on that version , it is not possible to update this version.
However! There is an easy and save way to install Python 2.7 (and/or 3.3 )without "breaking" YUM.
By using the RedHat Software Collections, which installs rpms and the supporting libraries in /opt, you can use a "higher" Python version.
How to install this with a repository
First, install the Software Collection tools:
sudo yum install scl-utils
Now install a yum repo for Python .27 scl ( short for " Software Collection":
sudo sh -c 'wget -qO- http://people.redhat.com/bkabrda/scl_python27.repo >> /etc/yum.repos.d/scl.repo'
For Python 3.3 replace scl_python27 with scl_python33.repo
now you can install python 2.7:
sudo yum install python27
now we going to use the "Software Collection":
scl -l python27
Now it is possible to enable python 2.7 in your (bash) shell:
scl enable python27 bash python -V Python 2.7.x