Ah gotcha. I believe you can 'sudo apt-get install python2.7' - at
least, you can on the Ubuntu system next to me. Not sure though; I build
my Python from source straight from Mercurial.
What you have there, I think, is a source code snapshot. You'd need to
extract it and then do the usual incantation: $ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install
And you have now potentially broken your system python
Generally speaking, unless you are an expert, you should not use make
install when installing Python from source, because it will replace the
system Python with the newly installed one.
Instead use `sudo make altinstall`. This is exactly the same as install,
except it won't replace the python symlink that points to the actual
Python executable. That way system tools that call Python get the version
they are expecting, together with any libraries installed for their use,
while you can call the version you prefer manually. Or set up an alias in
your bashrc file.
If you don't have the compiler/build environment set up, you'll have to
do that first.
The trickiest part for me is ensuring that tkinter works correctly. After
installing Python from source about a dozen times now, I still don't know
why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
