Line 136 of the 3.0 README and line 179 of the 3.1 README state that the 
executable on OSX is called python.exe. It's not.

So it is just called "python"?

What makes you think it is not called python.exe? Maybe you're confused
by the Finder's auto-hiding of externsions?

Nothing on OSX is ever named .exe.

On OSX building and installing Python with "configure 
--enable-framework" installs an executable just called 'python' in 
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.1/bin (using 3.1 as 
an example). It also creates double-clickable applications whose real 
name is Python.app and IDLE.app.  Whether to see the .app extensions 
on "packages" that are applications is a Finder preference, so most 
users won't see the .app.

If the build was configured without frameworks, then an executable 
named in the Unix style -- just python -- is installed in 
/usr/local/bin (by default) or wherever else was specified with the 
configure --prefix option.
-- 
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         --- Mitchell

That sentence however does not refer to the name of the installed Python
binary, but the binary as it is built in the source tree (or a build
directory).  And there we chose to call it "python.exe" because we
couldn't call it "python" because there is already a directory named
"Python", which (on the default case-insensitive filesystem) conflicts
with the executable name.

Whoops! It didn't say "the executable that gets built is called 
python.exe", but it is in the build section, so taking things 
literally, yes, the executable is called python.exe and I maybe 
should have taken it at its word.

There's a subtle problem in the wording since "the executable" almost 
always suggests "the program you run". It's a little weird -- though 
I see your point about why it's done that way -- to build an 
executable that gets installed as a different name. (Well, maybe 
installed with  version number as part of the name.) So even if the 
README is literally correct I do think it lays a subtle trap for the 
reader that could be avoided with a slight rewording.  Not important 
-- I'm just trying to help by pointing out documentation problems as 
I come across them. Most of them have been real.
-- 
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         --- Mitchell