Question

I’m trying to compile Python 2.6 for 64bit, I tried various compile commands but not sure whether those are correct

./configure --with-universal-archs=32-bit --prefix="$HOME/python"
make
make install 

What is the correct syntax … ?

Answer 1

What exactly doesn’t work? Do you get any error message?

Try simple compilation without installing first:

$ cd path/to/python/source
$ ./configure
$ make all
... wait for some time ...
$ make test  # this runs python's test suite, you can usually skip this
$ ./python   # note the ./ runs the just installed python instead of system's python
$ # note: do not run make install yet, or you will override system's python, see below

also, make sure you have make (GNU Make or otherwise) installed.

Where did you get the source? If you’re getting it directly from the repository, there is a chance that the source is broken or you may need to re-run autotool.

After testing that the compilation actually works, then you can:

$ cd path/to/python/source/
$ ./configure --prefix=/where/you/want/to/install/it
$ make all
... wait for some time ...
$ make test  # this runs python's test suite, you can usually skip this
$ make install