So far as I can tell, Python 2.7 crashes on at least some ANSI / Windows \r\n-delimited source files. More specifically, as invoked by Apache as a CGI script, the source file line:

import cgi

generated an error logged by Apache, complaining that the module "cgi\r" couldn't be imported.

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Today I was visiting with a friend and installing OSS on his computer. On an x86_64 Windows 7 box, he had already installed Apache, and I installed Python with a python.org installer. I opened up Notepad and created a "Hello world" Python CGI script, put it in the cgi-bin directory, saw it crash, and looked in the logs.

The log message complained that I had tried to "import cgi\r": in other words, Python on Windows was choking because the file I made in Notepad used "\r\n" for line breaks. (The equivalent script made with vim, and presumably "\n" for line breaks worked predictably.)

Isn't it a defect/design flaw for Python on Windows to choke on "\r\n"-separated files? Should I file a bug, or is this a side effect of decisions that are now non-negotiable? (I wasn't thrilled, after trying to sell my friend on the idea that Python is a good language with a low barrier to entry, to find that it choked on a Notepad-edited "Hello world!" CGI script.)