[MOAB-dev] another autotools question

[iulian at mcs.anl.gov]

Hello,
I have a question for the Linux gurus here.
At Argonne, we can't install anything on /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, etc, as everything is on the network. We do not have admin privileges; which is good and bad. 
We are also stuck with ubuntu 8.04.
We do have complete access on our /homes/<user> folder, and on our /sandbox, which is the local hard drive on each machine.

I was trying to build/install k3d on my machine, but I do need version 2.6 of cmake; we have 2.4.7 on the network.

Now the question: can I have on my machine a different ubuntu installation (let's say 9.04 or even 9.10), "insulated" from the network? On which I have more control on what I install, version of each program, etc. 

Or should I build a local version of cmake, use some configure options like prefix, bindir or ??? such as everything should be installed on my machine, or at least on my /homes/iulian/ folder that no one else cares about? 

What would be the best way?

Thanks,
Iulian