How can I change the default Python version on Snow Leopard?

Question

I recently upgraded my Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard install to 10.6 Snow Leopard, and with that came an upgraded version of Python, 2.6.1 (instead if 2.5.1). Now when I type `python` in the Terminal i still get Python 2.5.1 (r251:54869, Apr 18 2007, 22:08:04) [GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5367)] on darwin Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>>I looked in `/usr/bin/` and found that to get Python 2.6 I have to type `python2.6`.The question is: *How do I make the `python` command map to Python 2.6?*

Answer 1

I can't quite answer for the Mac, but I had a similar issue on my Linux box. I upgraded from Python2 to Python3, but type python at the prompt would still get me python 2. Some script I needed (like for doing installs) required python3, so I played some games with symbolic links.

Using whereis and which, I tracked down the command python (mine was in /usr/bin) and then donning my cape, I sudo mv python python2 to move it out of the way, then sudo ln -s python3 python. Not the best method, but definitely worked for me.