I wish to upgrade Python from the [Vers.] 2.3.4 that came packaged with my 
Mandrake 10.1 Linux OS to the current 2.5.1.  The 'hash/bang' line of my python 
scripts is "#!/usr/bin/python".  There are two files, both executables, in my 
/usr/bin directory; they are 1)python, and 2)python2.3.

I just simply don't know what to do next!?  The advise I can google to is 
typically overly generous, full of contradictions (sometime within the same 
post..."Well you can do this, but if you wanna do that instead...").  Well, I 
don't know why "I want to do this", or "do that instead".  I just want to know 
where to put my new version of python, and when I unzip/configure/and so on..., 
will I end up with:

1)an application that will pick up seamlessly and run my apps?
2)will pythontutor still be available?
3)will I have an upgraded & accessible package of modules?
4)will I need to modify the "hash/bang" line?
5)when I type 'python' on a command line, how will I access the new 2.5.1 
rather than the older version?  i.e., where do I go to modify the results of 
that request?

Oh, and could I-as I understand (to a limited degree) Linux- install the entire 
package within my home directory, following the principle that I am a user 
without admin privileges, and then change the "hash/bang" line to redirect to 
my 'embedded' version, and thus be running 2.5.1 within my own little world?  
And if I did so, the same questions persist.  If I asked for a module, would I 
get the one from my 2.5.1, or the module that exists in the older 2.3.4?  And 
when I entered 'python' from a command line (to access the interpreter) how 
would I get my 2.5.1 version, rather than the older 2.3.4.

It's just amazing, the array of niggling little questions that no one thinks 
about, but that create unmountable stumbling blocks once they pop up in the 
middle of your path, isn't it!?  But, they are enough to completely stop me in 
my tracks, and they are the nitty-gritty questions that no one seems to think 
important enough to address and clarify.

Thanks, folks.
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