Command history in python shell under linux

[Fernando Pérez]

Dave Kuhlman wrote:

> 
> Trying to save you a bit of frustration in advance ...  When I
> recompiled the source after uncommenting the readline line in
> Modules/Setup, I believe I had to install the package
> libreadline-dev in order to get a header file needed by readline.
> 
> A couple of additional suggestions:
> 
> 1. For a fancier Python shell, take a look at IPython:
> 
> http://www-hep.colorado.edu/~fperez/ipython/

Thanks a lot for the plug ! :) I'm glad to see others are finding it of use.

I'd just like to clarify that while I do think that IPython is far better 
than the normal python shell, it still relies on the native python readline 
module. So the OP will still have to solve his issue of not having readline 
installed, whether for IPython or not. And for that the rest of your tip is 
right on. To further help a bit, these days python detects readline's headers 
automatically, so if he installs libreadline-devel _first_ and then does a 
fully clean build of python, it should automatically pick up readline and he 
shouldn't need to do any manual editing of Modules/Setup.

Cheers,

f.