Before following this guide read through the README file located in the Python Source Install Folder. Also it recommended to make use of temporary or scratch directory to do all the compilation in (i.e. ~/scratch or /tmp/$USER), as to save disk space in your home directory. This guide assumes GCC 4.6.2 has been installed in your home directory as in Compiling GCC from Source. Ensure that the following lines at the end of your ./bashrc file

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
export LDFLAGS="-L$HOME/lib64 -L$HOME/lib"
export CPPFLAGS="-I$HOME/include -L$HOME/lib64 -L$HOME/lib"
export CXXFLAGS=$CPPFLAGS
export F77=gfortran

log out and in again,

$  gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 4.6.2

Before compiling Python, the zlib library needs to installed.

$ cd ~/scratch
$ wget http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.6.tar.gz
$ tar -xf zlib-1.2.6.tar.gz
$ cd zlib-1.2.6
$ make

Test it!

$ make check

Install if all tests passes

$ make install     

$ cd ~/scratch 
$ wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.3/Python-2.7.3.tgz
$ tar -xf Python-2.7.3.tgz

 $ cd ~/scratch/Python-2.7.3.tgz
 $ mkdir BUILD
 $ cd BUILD
 $ ../configure --prefix=$HOME 

 $ make

If errors occur such as

• g++: Internal error: Killed (program cc1plus)

wait a while and then make again, as the process was killed by the usage limiter which runs on the login node. If nessary try the approach shown in Compiling GCC from Source.

$ make test

No news is good news: If this test command completes with out an error you know that Python has been compiled successfully.

$ make install

Add the following to the end of your .bashrc file

# Python 2.7.3 installed in home directory
PYTHONPATH=~/lib/python:~/lib/python2.7/site-packages/

Log in and out, then

$ python
Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 12 2012, 12:03:56) 
[GCC 4.6.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>