Change default Python version from 2.4 to 2.6

I'm wanting to use some newer software that requires Python 2.6, and we currently开发者_Python百科 have both 2.4 and 2.6 installed on our dedicated CentOS server, which looks like this:

$ which python
/usr/local/bin/python
$ which python2.6
/usr/bin/python2.6
$ which python2.4
/usr/local/bin/python2.4
$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/py*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root      81 Aug  9  2007 /usr/local/bin/pydoc
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3394082 Aug  9  2007 /usr/local/bin/python
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3394082 Aug  9  2007 /usr/local/bin/python2.4

How can I switch it to start using 2.6 as the default python?

As root:

ln -sf /usr/bin/python2.6 /usr/local/bin/python

This will make a symbolic link from /usr/local/bin/python --> /usr/bin/python2.6 (replacing the old hardlink).

As an alternative, you can also just add an alias for the command "python" in the your bash shell's startup file.

so open the startup file: emacs ~/.bashrc

in the editor u append: alias "python" "python2.6"

and restart the shell.

rm /usr/local/bin/python
ln -s /usr/local/bin/python2.6 /usr/local/bin/python

Add an alias for the command "python" in the your bash shell's startup file. DON'T change a symbolic link from /usr/bin/python, because changing the default Python (in Ubuntu or Linux Mint for example) may break your system

P.S.: read other answers

In CentOS

ln -sf /usr/local/bin/python2.6 /usr/local/bin/python
ln -sf /usr/local/bin/python2.6 /usr/bin/python

To check version do:

python -V

Then to fix yum "No module named yum", you should do:

vi `which yum`

and modify #!/usr/bin/python to #!/usr/bin/python2.4

I had similar problem when using meld, I simply renamed the one under local and it worked. Not a good solution I know, but I can always take it back.

sudo mv /usr/local/bin/python /usr/local/bin/re_python