Index: msvc9compiler.py
===================================================================
--- msvc9compiler.py	(revision 77958)
+++ msvc9compiler.py	(working copy)
@@ -646,6 +646,8 @@
                 mfid = 1
             else:
                 mfid = 2
+            root, ext = os.path.splitext(output_filename)
+            if ext.lower() == '.pyd':
                 try:
                     # Remove references to the Visual C runtime, so they will
                     # fall through to the Visual C dependency of Python.exe.
@@ -653,9 +655,9 @@
                     # runtimes are not in WinSxS folder, but in Python's own
                     # folder), the runtimes do not need to be in every folder
                     # with .pyd's.
-                    manifest_f = open(temp_manifest, "rb")
-                    manifest_buf = manifest_f.read()
-                    manifest_f.close()
+                    with open(temp_manifest, "rb") as manifest_f:
+                        manifest_buf = manifest_f.read()
+
                     pattern = re.compile(
                         r"""<assemblyIdentity.*?name=("|')Microsoft\."""\
                         r"""VC\d{2}\.CRT("|').*?(/>|</assemblyIdentity>)""",
@@ -663,17 +665,25 @@
                     manifest_buf = re.sub(pattern, "", manifest_buf)
                     pattern = "<dependentAssembly>\s*</dependentAssembly>"
                     manifest_buf = re.sub(pattern, "", manifest_buf)
-                    manifest_f = open(temp_manifest, "wb")
-                    manifest_f.write(manifest_buf)
-                    manifest_f.close()
+
+                    # remove entire manifest if no other dependencies
+                    pattern = re.compile(
+                        r"""<assemblyIdentity.*?name=(?:"|')(.+?)(?:"|')"""\
+                        r""".*?(?:/>|</assemblyIdentity>)""", re.DOTALL)
+                    if re.search(pattern, manifest_buf) is None:
+                        ld_args.append('/MANIFEST:NO')
+
+                    with open(temp_manifest, "wb") as manifest_f:
+                        manifest_f.write(manifest_buf)
                 except IOError:
                     pass
-            out_arg = '-outputresource:%s;%s' % (output_filename, mfid)
-            try:
-                self.spawn(['mt.exe', '-nologo', '-manifest',
-                            temp_manifest, out_arg])
-            except DistutilsExecError as msg:
-                raise LinkError(msg)
+            if not '/MANIFEST:NO' in ld_args:
+                out_arg = '-outputresource:%s;%s' % (output_filename, mfid)
+                try:
+                    self.spawn(['mt.exe', '-nologo', '-manifest',
+                                temp_manifest, out_arg])
+                except DistutilsExecError as msg:
+                    raise LinkError(msg)
         else:
             log.debug("skipping %s (up-to-date)", output_filename)