How to install Python environment in my own account on Dreamhost so that my application can use the python that I installed by myself instead of the system-wide one?
The post for Bluehost works very well for Dreamhost too:
https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/python-install
In short:
mkdir ~/python
cd ~/python
wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.2/Python-2.7.2.tgz
tar zxfv Python-2.7.2.tgz
find ~/python -type d | xargs chmod 0755
cd Python-2.7.2
./configure --prefix=$HOME/python
make
make install
echo "export PATH=$HOME/python/Python-2.7.2/:$PATH" >> ~/.vimrc
source ~/.bashrc