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## 1.5. Python on RedHat Linux

Installing under UNIX-compatible operating systems such as Linux is easy if you're willing to install a binary package. Pre-built binary packages are available for most popular Linux distributions. Or you can always compile from source.

Download the latest Python RPM by going to http://www.python.org/ftp/python/ and selecting the highest version number listed, then selecting the `rpms/` directory within that. Then download the RPM with the highest version number. You can install it with the rpm command, as shown here:

### Example 1.2. Installing on RedHat Linux 9

    localhost:~$ su -
    Password: [enter your root password]
    [root@localhost root]# wget http://python.org/ftp/python/2.3/rpms/redhat-9/python2.3-2.3-5pydotorg.i386.rpm
    Resolving python.org... done.
    Connecting to python.org[194.109.137.226]:80... connected.
    HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
    Length: 7,495,111 [application/octet-stream]
    ...
    [root@localhost root]# rpm -Uvh python2.3-2.3-5pydotorg.i386.rpm
    Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
       1:python2.3              ########################################### [100%]
    [root@localhost root]# python
    Python 2.2.2 (#1, Feb 24 2003, 19:13:11)
    [GCC 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-4)] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits", or "license" for more information.
    >>> [press Ctrl+D to exit]
    [root@localhost root]# python2.3
    Python 2.3 (#1, Sep 12 2003, 10:53:56)
    [GCC 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits", or "license" for more information.
    >>> [press Ctrl+D to exit]
    [root@localhost root]# which python2.3
    /usr/bin/python2.3

| Whoops! Just typing `python` gives you the older version of Python -- the one that was installed by default. That's not the one you want.
| At the time of this writing, the newest version is called `python2.3`. You'll probably want to change the path on the first line of the sample scripts to point to the newer version.
| This is the complete path of the newer version of Python that you just installed. Use this on the `#!` line (the first line of each script) to ensure that scripts are running under the latest version of Python, and be sure to type `python2.3` to get into the interactive shell.