Running modern python on Ubuntu LTS

The python version on your Ubunutu LTS may be slightly behind latest, or years behind, depending on the release cycle. Here's how to run a newer python without interfering with the system one.

Note that setting an install prefix is necessary to avoid making this the default system python (which will break cinnamon-settings apps as well as possibly other things). The prefix I chose puts it in a directory with my username.

Download the latest python source and install it:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev
./configure --enable-ipv6 --enable-unicode=ucs4 --prefix=/usr/local/${USER}/
make
sudo make install

Your new python is now in /usr/local/${USER}/bin/python2.7. To use it, specify it in any virtualenvs you create. Make it an alias so you never forget:

alias virtualenv='virtualenv --python=/usr/local/${USER}/bin/python'