installing python on a server?

[John Salerno]

Rene Pijlman wrote:
> John Salerno:
>> Can anyone tell me how complicated it might be to install Python on my 
>> server so I can use it for web apps?
> 
> 2 on a scale from 1 to 10.
> 
>> Is it a one-time process, or something to maintain?
> 
> Both :-)
> 
> I installed Python 2.2 - 2.4 from source on Linux with no problem
> whatsoever. I now plan about 5 minutes installation time per new release,
> that's 2 minutes to make coffee, 2 minutes to skim the release notes and
> README and 1 minute to watch ./configure; make; make install do it's
> magic.
> 
> There are some details to watch out for, such as having the required
> libraries and include files around before installation, to enable specific
> functionality (e.g. SSL support in socket). But that's no big deal.
> 

Hmm, sounds easy, yet I don't know where to start. What do I actually 
use to install it onto the server? I've never dealt with server stuff 
before, so I might not be familiar with the terminology.