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
