This post by Kurttheviking gives the steps in updating python 2.6 to python2.7 in AWS EC2 instances but i find the writeup abit messy and missing some considerations. So i’m reorganizing it in number sequence.

1. Check current python version

    $ python -V
    Python 2.6.8
   

2. AWS now provides python2.7 via the package manager, so we can install 2.7 easily.

    $ sudo yum install python27
   

3. Now there are 2 versions of python in your instance

    $ python -V
    Python 2.6.8
    $ python27 -V
    Python 2.7.5
   

4. Check where Python2.7 is expecting packages to go

    $ python27 -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())"
    /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages
   

5. To enable easy_isntall with our fresh Python2.7 interpreter we need to add setuptools. Head on over to Setuptools and confirm the URL for the egg installer. Then, change back to your cozy ec2-user home directory and snag a copy of that egg file.

    $ cd ~
    $ wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/2.7/s/setuptools/setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg#md5=fe1f997bc722265116870bc7919059ea
   

6. Run the egg as you would any shell script

    $ sudo sh setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg
    Processing setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg
    Copying setuptools-0.6c11-py2.7.egg to /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages
   

7. Add git package

    $ sudo yum install git
   

8. Set alias in .bash_profile for the new python2.7

    $ sudo vim .bash_profile
   

   Add the following line to .bash_profile

    alias python='python27'
   

   Exit vim and source the file

    $ source .bash_profile
   

Note: If you set python2.6 as the default python interpreter, yum might break as a result. You can follow this guide to fix ‘No module named yum’ error