Installing Python with homebrew on Mountain Lion

Question

I was trying to follow this tutorial and I got stuck. After issuing the command

brew install python --framework --universal

I get

 ==> /usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.3/bin/python -s setup.py --no-user-cfg install

File "/private/tmp/__UNKNOWN__-zSD0/distribute-0.6.28/distribute_setup.py",
 line 347, in _patch_egg_dir_rename_path(path)  

File "/private/tmp/__UNKNOWN__-zSD0/distribute-0.6.28/distribute_setup.py",
 line 259, in _rename_path

 os.rename(path, new_name) OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

READ THIS: https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/wiki/troubleshooting

These open issues may also help:
     https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/issues/12918

for output.

I have looked around (including at the provided links) and I found some suggestions about removing the system's python framework, which I have, and I am now python-less and still can't get the command to work. I am not a unix/mac-os expert, so any idea would be welcome...

Answer 1

I had some problems myself installing python.

First you should check that your PATH variable looks like this: (something like this DO NOT COPY PASTE)

$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin

EDIT: You can change the path variable by running the following command:

export PATH=/here/goes/the:/rearranged/list

Or by creating a file named ".bash_profile" in your home directory and put it there, so it will only affect your account. Here's an example of my .bash_profile:

$ cat .bash_profile 
export PATH='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin'

"/usr/local/bin" should be first of all, such that your installation of python is prefered over the (outdated) system installation.

After that I did

$ brew update
$ brew install python

Otherwise try to run:

$ brew doctor

and follow the instruction or clues given...