Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 10:56 AM, Connie Sieh wrote: >> On Sat, 30 Jul 2016, P. Larry Nelson wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with >>> Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have >>> version 2.6.6 installed. >>> >>> I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students >>> apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in >>> /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). Never replace basic system components this way. If you ever have to do this, put them in /usr/ocal/python27, or /opt/python27. This is very much what the SCL tools published upstream by Red Hat do, and available for Scientific Linux and CentOS. This student and professor may want to think of jumping to SL 7, and avoiding the issues with other legacy components. >>> If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm >>> of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't >>> work." >>> I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably >>> have what he's looking for. >> >> >> I see that Larry's requirement may have gone away, but for others >> with the same request: >> >> The slc6-scl "Software Collections Library" repo has a suite of packages >> python27-* which can be installed alongside the system python 2.6. >> >> They also have python33-* although those who want python3 may >> want bleeding edge which is, IIRC, 3.4.something. >> (Hmm bleeding edge is 3.6.0a3, latest is 3.5.2). >> > > Also in SL software collections via > > ftp://sldist.fnal.gov/linux/scientific/6x/external_products/softwarecollections/yum-conf-softwarecollections-1.0-1.el6.noarch.rpm
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On Sat, 30 Jul 2016, P. Larry Nelson wrote: Hi all, Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have version 2.6.6 installed. I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably have what he's looking for. I see that Larry's requirement may have gone away, but for others with the same request: The slc6-scl "Software Collections Library" repo has a suite of packages python27-* which can be installed alongside the system python 2.6. They also have python33-* although those who want python3 may want bleeding edge which is, IIRC, 3.4.something. (Hmm bleeding edge is 3.6.0a3, latest is 3.5.2). Also in SL software collections via ftp://sldist.fnal.gov/linux/scientific/6x/external_products/softwarecollections/yum-conf-softwarecollections-1.0-1.el6.noarch.rpm
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
I suggest trying anaconda from continuum analytics. It installs into /opt and provides its own ecosytem, ie, all the support libraries it needs. Because of this, it will run on an SL6 machine. The install script does give you the option of installing it under a different root. It provides numpy, scipy, matplotlib, pandas, jupyter, etc., for data analysis, and pretty much whatever else you need. It comes in a python 2.7 and python 3.5 version. I used the 3.5 version and can vouch for it. If it doesn't have a package you can simply install it by running its version of pip and it will install it into its ecosystem. But, I've actually never had it do it because its included packages is quite complete. On 07/30/2016 09:01 PM, P. Larry Nelson wrote: To the two Stevens, Thanks for the possible solutions to this! However, I did hear back from the grad student and his response was: "I'm installing some python packages and need a higher version of numpy, which asks for python 2.7. I'll try on CERN system. Thanks!" Hopefully that's the last I'll hear of it :-) I have 4 weeks left with the U of I, I'm totally consumed working on another project involving Docker and Shifter, and don't really have the time nor the wherewithal to deal with it. - Larry Steven J. Yellin wrote on 7/30/16 8:20 PM: Another way is to get Python-2.7.12.tar.xz from https://www.python.org/downloads/, extract into directory Python-2.7.12 with 'tar -xJf Python-2.7.12.tar.xz', and see its README file for what to do next to get it in /usr/local. Steven Yellin On Sun, 31 Jul 2016, Steven Haigh wrote: You can look at virtualenv from EPEL. You can install a separate python environment in a users home directory. On 31/07/16 09:36, P. Larry Nelson wrote: Hi all, Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have version 2.6.6 installed. I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. Can anyone confirm that? Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system without replacing 2.6.x? I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably have what he's looking for. I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. Thanks! - Larry -- Steven Haigh Email: net...@crc.id.au Web: https://www.crc.id.au Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 7:36 PM, P. Larry Nelson wrote: > Hi all, > > Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with > Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have > version 2.6.6 installed. > > I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students > apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in > /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). Your professor needs to be schooled in the File Hierarchy System, and what /usr/local is for. It is a very, very, very bad idea to NFS deploy potentially incompatible versions of software that overlaps with system based software. > In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but > have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. Nope For RHEL 6 and thus for SL 6, Red Hat maintains the "Software Collection Library". These can be accessed by consulting http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/scientific6/docs/softwarecollections.shtml I've personally written about 160 SPRMs for the python27 working tools installed this way, and which live in /opt/rh/python27/. If necessary, it's possible to share *that* across multiple Scientific Linux 6 based systems, but it's not necessary. If they student needs to share the python 2.7 built tools across multiple environments, then they should use a *different* deployment location thatn the top of /usr/local. /usr/local/python2.7, for example, might be a reasonable share location, and it can be autofs shared via NFS. > Can anyone confirm that? > Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system > without replacing 2.6.x? See above. And I'll do something I usually don't do here, and point to my professional work at https://github.com/SkyhookWireless/airflowrepobuilder to see where I've done a great deal of python module RPM building work. This was done precisely to avoid people doing "pip install whatever" and potentially overwriting and breaking the existing system published modules. "pip install" for Python modules, like "cpan" for Perl, and like maven, artefactory, and, gradle, and many re-inventions of software installation tools, does not keep track of *anyone* else's installations and upgrades them and replaces without even checking the dependencies of any other component of the system. There are words for this kind of behavior, the but key aspect is that whatever you are installing right now is more important than anything else already present. And every single one of those installers grabs the latest version of the software, and installs the latest version of all unsatisfied dependencies, by default. That works just fine with one-host, one application models, but if you have to share workspaces it breaks down pretty badly. > I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a > 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' > It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! > > If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm > of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." > I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably > have what he's looking for. > > I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. > > Thanks! > - Larry See above. For SL 6, definitely activate the software collections to gain access to Python 2.7 binaries and package environments. > -- > P. Larry Nelson (217-244-9855) | IT Administrator > 457 Loomis Lab | High Energy Physics Group > 1110 W. Green St., Urbana, IL | Physics Dept., Univ. of Ill. > MailTo: lnel...@illinois.edu | > http://hep.physics.illinois.edu/home/lnelson/ > -- > "Information without accountability is just noise." - P.L. Nelson
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 7:36 PM, P. Larry Nelson wrote: > Hi all, > > Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with > Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have > version 2.6.6 installed. > > I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students > apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in > /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). Your professor needs to be schooled in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, and what /usr/local is for. It is a very, very, very bad idea to NFS deploy potentially incompatible versions of software that overlaps with system based software. Been there done that, took a while to clean up. The current FHS is at https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/lsb/fhs. > In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but > have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. Nope For RHEL 6 and thus for SL 6, Red Hat maintains the "Software Collection Library". These can be accessed by consulting http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/scientific6/docs/softwarecollections.shtml What *these* do is install Python 2.7 in /opt/rh/python27, and use the "scn enable python27 [program]" or use "source /opt/rh/python27/enable command" to reset the working PATH and MANPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH, etc. to use Python 2.7 by default I've personally written about 160 SPRMs for the python27 working tools installed this way/. If necessary, it's possible to share *that* across multiple Scientific Linux 6 based systems, but it's not necessary. The student's tools can then be written and published in /usr/local/bin or wherever to use those that alternative version of python directly. I'd really recommend the student's tools use a non-default directory, so that the need for python 2.7 can be set separately, especially if they're going to have to use "pip install" to create new modules. It can also be time for the student to learn to use the "py2pack" tool to build actual RPM's, if these tools need to be version controlled and handle dependencies correctly instead of being spewed into "/usr/local". > Can anyone confirm that? > Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system > without replacing 2.6.x? See above. And I'll do something I usually don't do here, and point to my professional work at https://github.com/SkyhookWireless/airflowrepobuilder to see where I've done a great deal of python module RPM building work. My current employer has been very good about letting me publish open source. These tools were created precisely to avoid doing "pip install whatever" and potentially overwriting and breaking the existing system published modules. "pip install" for Python modules, like "cpan" for Perl, and like maven, artefactory, gradle, npm, and many re-inventions of software installers, does not keep track of *anyone* else's installations and overwrites them willynilly. "pip install" also installs potentially incompatible versions of the same module at different times of day, depending on the dependencies of the *last* run of the tool. To avoid this on RHEL, CentOS, and Scientific Linux systems, learn to use "py2pack" to build up RPMs. And yes, that airflowrepobuilder includes a python27 compatible version of py2pack and many versions of generated .spec files with the syntax to build for the local python environment, and the python27 environment. > I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a > 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' > It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! Sounds like you've not enabled EPEL, which publishes many more. > If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm > of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." > I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably > have what he's looking for. See above. The requested /usr/local is very dangerous. Note that it is *also* opssible to set up "/usr/local/python27", and basically replicate all the work RHEL did upstream with the software connections library. But lordie, why would you want to? > I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. > > Thanks! > - Larry > > > -- > P. Larry Nelson (217-244-9855) | IT Administrator > 457 Loomis Lab | High Energy Physics Group > 1110 W. Green St., Urbana, IL | Physics Dept., Univ. of Ill. > MailTo: lnel...@illinois.edu | > http://hep.physics.illinois.edu/home/lnelson/ > -- > "Information without accountability is just noise." - P.L. Nelson
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On Sun, 31 Jul 2016, ~Stack~ wrote: I have the exact same problem. Don't try to replace 2.6.6. It broke ALL KINDS of things including RPM when I tried it...did not go well at all (but a good learning experience! :-). Here are three solutions: 1) Software Collections: https://www.softwarecollections.org/en/ Upside, A certain favored upstream vendor backs a lot of these packages (just no support). Downside, they run in a special environment which can be tricky depending on the application. It basically runs in a subshell and that confuses my users at least Same with SCL. We use it elsewhere too, but anything that the users have to interact with, we found they get frustrated because of the weird subshell-environment it uses. If your users are used to environment modules, the SCL pythons can be made to work with those rather than SCL sub-shells - here is our python27 module: #%Module2013 # # $Id: python27,v 1.2 2016/07/31 19:54:12 werdna Exp $ # conflict python33 if [ file isfile /opt/rh/python27/root/usr/bin/python ] { module-whatis "Loads python27" set pythonroot /opt/rh/python27/root prepend-path PATH $pythonroot/usr/bin prepend-path LD_LIBRARY_PATH $pythonroot/usr/lib64 prepend-path MANPATH $pythonroot/usr/share/man # For systemtap prepend-path XDG_DATA_DIRS $pythonroot/usr/share # For pkg-config prepend-path PKG_CONFIG_PATH $pythonroot/usr/lib64/pkgconfig } else { module-whatis "Python 27 not installed on this machine" set helpmsg "Python 27 not installed on this machine" if [ expr [ module-info mode load ] || [ module-info mode display ] ] { # bring in new version puts stderr "Python 27 not installed on [uname nodename]" } } -- Andrew C Aitchison
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On 07/30/2016 06:36 PM, P. Larry Nelson wrote: > Hi all, Greetings! [snip] > I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students > apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in > /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). > > In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but > have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. > > Can anyone confirm that? > Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system > without replacing 2.6.x? I have the exact same problem. Don't try to replace 2.6.6. It broke ALL KINDS of things including RPM when I tried it...did not go well at all (but a good learning experience! :-). Here are three solutions: 1) Software Collections: https://www.softwarecollections.org/en/ Upside, A certain favored upstream vendor backs a lot of these packages (just no support). Downside, they run in a special environment which can be tricky depending on the application. It basically runs in a subshell and that confuses my users at least 2) Inline Upstream Stable (aka IUS): https://ius.io/ Upside: Backed by Rackspace (again no suport), easy RPMS, they do not stomp on Upstream Vendor packages (different names), and they are kept pretty up-to-date. Downside: they don't have a ton of packages, but they do have your Python 2.7 3) Anaconda Python: https://www.continuum.io/downloads Upside: it runs its own environment which plays nicely with cluster modules (for the most part). You can update that environment inside itself. Need a new version of scipy? 'conda update scipy'. Done. Need Intel Accelerated Python? Or Python 3.5 too? Easy. Downside: When it breaks or when it gets pissy, it can be a pain to figure out. The documentation isn't great. It is open source and you can get official support for it, but it is PRICEY!!! We chose Open Source Anaconda when we needed a new python. For the most part it does its job really well and we are very happy with it. More importantly, the users are happy with it. We use IUS elsewhere but we needed more packages then they provide and it was a pain managing all those packages manually. Same with SCL. We use it elsewhere too, but anything that the users have to interact with, we found they get frustrated because of the weird subshell-environment it uses. Good luck! ~Stack~ signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
On Sat, 30 Jul 2016, P. Larry Nelson wrote: Hi all, Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have version 2.6.6 installed. I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably have what he's looking for. I see that Larry's requirement may have gone away, but for others with the same request: The slc6-scl "Software Collections Library" repo has a suite of packages python27-* which can be installed alongside the system python 2.6. They also have python33-* although those who want python3 may want bleeding edge which is, IIRC, 3.4.something. (Hmm bleeding edge is 3.6.0a3, latest is 3.5.2).
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
To the two Stevens, Thanks for the possible solutions to this! However, I did hear back from the grad student and his response was: "I'm installing some python packages and need a higher version of numpy, which asks for python 2.7. I'll try on CERN system. Thanks!" Hopefully that's the last I'll hear of it :-) I have 4 weeks left with the U of I, I'm totally consumed working on another project involving Docker and Shifter, and don't really have the time nor the wherewithal to deal with it. - Larry Steven J. Yellin wrote on 7/30/16 8:20 PM: Another way is to get Python-2.7.12.tar.xz from https://www.python.org/downloads/, extract into directory Python-2.7.12 with 'tar -xJf Python-2.7.12.tar.xz', and see its README file for what to do next to get it in /usr/local. Steven Yellin On Sun, 31 Jul 2016, Steven Haigh wrote: You can look at virtualenv from EPEL. You can install a separate python environment in a users home directory. On 31/07/16 09:36, P. Larry Nelson wrote: Hi all, Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have version 2.6.6 installed. I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. Can anyone confirm that? Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system without replacing 2.6.x? I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably have what he's looking for. I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. Thanks! - Larry -- Steven Haigh Email: net...@crc.id.au Web: https://www.crc.id.au Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897 -- P. Larry Nelson (217-244-9855) | IT Administrator 457 Loomis Lab | High Energy Physics Group 1110 W. Green St., Urbana, IL | Physics Dept., Univ. of Ill. MailTo: lnel...@illinois.edu | http://hep.physics.illinois.edu/home/lnelson/ -- "Information without accountability is just noise." - P.L. Nelson
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
Larry, the thing about the python ecosystem is that it holds to a philosophy of "backwards compatibility my A**! we told we're gonna break it and we did! We have a new, shiny idea and it's better. recode your already working stuff". Not acceptable in my mind, but to each their own. There can be (often are) system utilities that depend on a particular version. They tend to NOT call out version dependencies and it's quite nasty to find them broken... Especially if you don't use them often. I know, I did this a few times before I ran with some python-istas for a while. What your rpm check told you is all the python packages on the system... Which doesn't tell which one depend on the python version and won't. What your student will almost certainly run into, unless they are python experts, is their code will grab system python packages and break their code or have unexpected behaviors. because you mention this is on a cluster, my number one suggestion (give them a VM), likely won't fly. number two, is a /usr/local/bin of the needed version and tell them if they break the cluster (system packages) for the other users, You'll hand them over to the pitchforks and torches crowd. Not nice, but fun. My condolences On 07/30/2016 04:36 PM, P. Larry Nelson wrote: > Hi all, > > Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with > Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have > version 2.6.6 installed. > > I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students > apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in > /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). > > In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but > have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. > > Can anyone confirm that? > Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system > without replacing 2.6.x? > > I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a > 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' > It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! > > If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm > of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." > I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably > have what he's looking for. > > I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. > > Thanks! > - Larry > >
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
Another way is to get Python-2.7.12.tar.xz from https://www.python.org/downloads/, extract into directory Python-2.7.12 with 'tar -xJf Python-2.7.12.tar.xz', and see its README file for what to do next to get it in /usr/local. Steven Yellin On Sun, 31 Jul 2016, Steven Haigh wrote: You can look at virtualenv from EPEL. You can install a separate python environment in a users home directory. On 31/07/16 09:36, P. Larry Nelson wrote: Hi all, Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have version 2.6.6 installed. I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. Can anyone confirm that? Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system without replacing 2.6.x? I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably have what he's looking for. I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. Thanks! - Larry -- Steven Haigh Email: net...@crc.id.au Web: https://www.crc.id.au Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897
Re: Python 2.7 OS requirements
You can look at virtualenv from EPEL. You can install a separate python environment in a users home directory. On 31/07/16 09:36, P. Larry Nelson wrote: > Hi all, > > Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with > Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have > version 2.6.6 installed. > > I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students > apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in > /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). > > In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but > have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. > > Can anyone confirm that? > Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system > without replacing 2.6.x? > > I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a > 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' > It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! > > If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm > of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." > I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably > have what he's looking for. > > I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. > > Thanks! > - Larry > > -- Steven Haigh Email: net...@crc.id.au Web: https://www.crc.id.au Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897 signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Python 2.7 OS requirements
Hi all, Please don't shoot the questioner (me), as I have no experience with Python, other than knowing "what" it is and that my SL6.8 systems have version 2.6.6 installed. I have been asked by one of our Professors that one of his grad students apparently needs Python 2.7.x installed on our cluster (optimally in /usr/local, which is an NFS mounted dir everywhere). In my brief Googling, I have not found OS requirements for 2.7.x, but have inferred that it probably needs SL7.x. Can anyone confirm that? Or has anyone installed Python 2.7.x (and which .x?) on an SL6.8 system without replacing 2.6.x? I'm guessing this can be quite a morass to delve into as when I do a 'rpm -qa|grep -i python|wc' It returns with 67 rpms with python in the rpm name! If the solution is indeed simple, I might proceed, otherwise, I'm of a tendency to reply to the Professor and student, "No way - won't work." I think the student probably has access to CERN systems that probably have what he's looking for. I've followed up with that inquiry to the student and waiting to hear back. Thanks! - Larry -- P. Larry Nelson (217-244-9855) | IT Administrator 457 Loomis Lab | High Energy Physics Group 1110 W. Green St., Urbana, IL | Physics Dept., Univ. of Ill. MailTo: lnel...@illinois.edu | http://hep.physics.illinois.edu/home/lnelson/ -- "Information without accountability is just noise." - P.L. Nelson