#Python is very friendly about installing multiple versions since RedHat comes with Python 1.5 and I
#hate risking breaking things that depend on it.
#
#To install the latest Python, I use these commands ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-suffix=2
#This will make a file called /usr/local/bin/python2 that is the latest version.  
#
#However, when using 2.5.1, I have had issues with using --with-suffix.  If I compiled without --with-suffix 
#and then re-configured and made again, all was ok.

cd /files
wget http://www.pccc.com/downloads/python2/Python-2.5.1.tar.bz2
cd /usr/src/
tar jxvf /files/Python-2.5.1.tar.bz2
cd Python-2.5.1
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-suffix=2
make 
make altinstall #This avoids overwriting the existing python

#NOTE 2.7.7 worked great with no suffix defined and using make altinstall
# e.g. CXX=/usr/local/gcc3.2.3/bin/c++ CC=/usr/local/gcc3.2.3/bin/gcc ./configure --prefix=/usr/local  
# I have openssl 1.0 installed in /usr/local and removed rpm openssl-devel so there wasn't a conflict with the system installed openssl library.