Installing Vim with Python 2.7 support

Requirements & Version Checking

POSIX OS, so Linux, BSD or OSX. No plans for Windows support.

Python 2 version >= 2.7, check with: python --version

Vim/GVim with +python support. To check on command line vim --version | grep +python Alternatively, inside vim execute :version.

If you don't have the requirements see below.

Ubuntu

If your distribution of Ubuntu comes with python 2.7 (like most recent), the packaged vim should be all that is needed. If it isn't installed then run:

If you are on an older Ubuntu machine with 2.6 or older, see compiling instructions below to get latest python and/or vim compiled. Alternatively, you can try to find a PPA with 2.7, but I can't recommend one.

Compiling From Source On POSIX

The following shell script should build python/vim assuming build requirements are met, just change the apt-get line to whatever your package manager uses. The DIR variable specifies install location for python & vim.

IMPORTANT: To use these daily, make sure your .bashrc or other init file updates PATH so that $DIR/bin is on it. So for BASH, in your .bashrc append export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
PYTHON_URL=https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.9/Python-2.7.9.tar.xz                                                                
# This is where python & vim will be installed to
DIR=/usr/local

# List of dependencies on Ubuntu, bare minimum excluding GTK/GNOME support
sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf libncurses5-dev xz-utils curl mercurial libncurses5-dev 

# Build python 2.7, install to $DIR
PYARC=python.tar.xz
curl -fLo $PYARC $PYTHON_URL
xzcat $PYARC | tar xvf -
cd Python*
./configure --prefix=$DIR
make && sudo make install
cd -
\rm -rf Python* $PYARC

# Build vim with +python, install to $DIR
hg clone https://code.google.com/p/vim/
cd vim
vi_cv_path_python=$DIR/bin/python ./configure --prefix=$DIR --with-features=huge --enable-pythoninterp
PATH=$DIR/bin:$PATH make && sudo make install
cd -      
\rm -rf vim

Script tested on vagrant Ubuntu Lucid with python 2.6 in system. Correctly built latest vim with Python 2.7 support.