Q:

Recompiling Python to fix arrow keys in interactive mode issue

I am working in python 2.6 (installed alongside Python2.4.3 required for CentOS) and I am having issues with the arrow keys and backspace etc.
I compiled from source and I imagine the solution is to recompile after installing readline-devel as outlined in:
Seeing escape characters when pressing the arrow keys in python shell
Question is, I have a lot of modules installed and am worried of things breaking.  Is it normal to be able to just recompile without breaking existing modules.
Thanks

A:

As long as you use the same compiler that was originally used, you should be fine, I think. Especially if you don't have any extensions to recompile, because those are what would be affected.
http://docs.python.org/release/2.6.5/install/index.html#building-extensions-tips-and-tricks

the same compiler and linker flags used to compile Python will also be used for compiling extensions.

I might have missed something, though, so...

