How to change which Python version gets used in Snow Leopard?

Question

Snow Leopard comes packaged with a version of Python 2.6 that is incompatible with many popular libraries, so I've downloaded a version of Python 2.6 from python.org. However, when I type python at the terminal, I still get the old version of Python. How can I change this?

which python currently gives me /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/python

ls -l /usr/bin/python is not a symbolic link to the above (nor to Versions/Current).

I have a version at /opt/local/bin/python2.6 that I wish to be using.

Answer 1

I don't know how this will affect other usage^† of Python in OS X, but as currently the OS X Python is listed in your PATH, you just need to change that:

• For use in Finder, see Change Path for OS X (to allow for double-clicking files).
• For use in Terminal, see Where does $PATH get set in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard?

I don't know if it matters, but just for the archives: on my OS X 10.6 (which is an upgrade from 10.4 via 10.5), /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/ is not listed in PATH. Instead, which python yields /usr/bin/python.

^{† For example: file /usr/bin/xattr yields /usr/bin/xattr: python script text executable, and hence might be affected by changing the Python executable!}