Plone 3.2.2 on Jaunty with python sandbox

It seems that a lot of python2.4 support was dropped from Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty. Support which without Plone would not run. I started recompiling python packages to bring back python2.4 builds, but this was turning into a slippery slope and would bring back problems if any python package was updated from Ubuntu again.

Solution:

Use a separate user with it’s own install of python2.4 and any libraries needed for plone.

These are not complete instructions on how to get plone running again. But more or less just notes to point most people in the right path.

Command history:

echo 'export PATH=$HOME/python/2.4/bin:$PATH' | tee -a ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
mkdir -p ~/python/2.4
mkdir python-build
cd python-build
wget http://python.org/ftp/python/2.4.6/Python-2.4.6.tar.bz2 http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/setuptools/setuptools-0.6c9.tar.gz http://effbot.org/media/downloads/Imaging-1.1.6.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install build-essential zlib1g-dev libjpeg62-dev libfreetype6-dev
tar -xvf Python-2.4.6.tar.bz2
cd Python-2.4.6/
./configure --prefix=$HOME/python/2.4
make
make install
python -V
cd ..
tar -xvf setuptools-0.6c9.tar.gz
cd setuptools-0.6c9/
python setup.py build
python setup.py install
cd ..
tar -xvf Imaging-1.1.6.tar.gz
cd Imaging-1.1.6
python setup.py build
python setup.py install
python -c "import PIL"
sudo apt-get install libldap2-dev libsasl2-dev libssl-dev

Notes:

Remove all old eggs.

Add the python install path to ~/.bashrc or the current shell.

install python, easy_install and PIL.

PIL needed to be install manually with `python setup.py install` as easy_install was not installing the PIL.pth files correctly.

Install python-ldap requirements if needed in plone are the last apt-get line.

Rerun bootstrap and buildouts in plone.