Last night, Dreamhost moved my account to a new host. Not a big deal, and it’s certainly understandable, but it did break my one running Django app – the Gentryart Gallery. Here’s what I did to fix it.

First, as suggested in the Dreamhost Server Moves Page, I recompiled Python to create a 64bit version. While I was at it, I upgraded from v2.5.2 to v2.6.5. This great page by Ryan Kanno outlined the steps. I just changed the version number. I also deleted my old installation of Python so there wouldn’t be any chance of confusion there.

Now, if I would have used the same python version and kept everything in the same locations, I would have been done. Since I didn’t, I had a little more to do.

Next, I needed to install all of the python packages I use. Here’s the list:

• Django (of course)
• MySQLdb (which requires setuptools)
• Python Image Library
• Photologue

Following the famous Jeff Croft post, I updated the admin_media shortcut to point to the new Django files.

And the gallery is back in business!