deadsnakes - Using Old Versions of Python on Ubuntu

How do you install an older version of Python on Ubuntu without building it yourself?

The Python packages in the official Ubuntu archives generally don't go back all that far, but people might still need to develop and test against these old Python interpreters. Felix Krull maintains a PPA (package archive) of older Python versions that are easy to install on Ubuntu.

see: https://launchpad.net/~fkrull/+archive/deadsnakes

Currently supported Python releases: 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Instructions:

Add the deadsnakes repository:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fkrull/deadsnakes

Run Update:

$ sudo apt-get update

Install an older version of Python:

$ sudo apt-get install python2.6 python2.6-dev