I would like to install a complete new version of Trac alongside of our current version (0.11.7) and I am looking for ways to do this. After some research, it says to use python's virtualenv, but I am trying to find specific steps on how to accomplish this without interfering with our 0.11.7 version at all.
I am using Ubuntu as the OS. Any input including any possible pitfalls is appreciated.
Try virtualenvwrapper that makes using python-virtualenv a breeze.
The steps to create and use such a Python virtual environment are explained in the user documentation. These environments form the core setup of my own Trac plugin development. It allows to even use custom python versions, if you ever need that. I found the need to give each environment a self-explaining name and use it with different Trac environment directories matching the db version required by different Trac versions, i.e. virtualenv "trac-0.11_py2.4" with Trac env "sandbox_0.11", "trac-0.12_py2.6" with Trac env "sandbox_0.12", etc.