I have a CentOS 5.8 server and am planning to install a later version of python (presumably 2.7). I have heard a lot of mention that CentOS relies quite heavily on 2.4 for many admin features etc. I'm trying to determine exactly what these features are (and whether I would actually be using them) so that I can decide whether to update python through yum or build from source.
Can anyone give me some more detailed information on what CentOS features have dependencies on Python 2.4.
If python2.7 is available on  Yum, you should use that: the package management on large distros (redhat, ubuntu, debian, fedora ) takes care of maintaining parallel Python installs for you which won't conflict with each other.
This option should keep your system "/usr/bin/python¬ file pointing to Python2.4 and give you another python2.7 binary.
Otherwise, if you choose to build it from source, pick another prefix - /opt - (not even /usr/local will be quite safe) for building it. 
You don't need to know exactly which system parts depend on Python 2.4 - just rest assured it will crash very hard and unpredictably if you try to modify the system Python itself.
CentOS 5.8 dependencies on Python 2.4?