> To kill python_d.exe, you should use kill_python_d.exe instead of
> kill_python.exe.

Crud, I thought I did.  Well, ok, so can't trust this test.

> Could you post the buildbot log url?

I think this is the last build in the sequence that was failing until I killed the processes:  http://www.python.org/dev/buildbot/all/builders/x86%20Windows7%203.x/builds/2297  ... the processes had been around for maybe 45 hours at that point, but I can't find the last working run in the waterfall display (I get back to 2252 and then it sort of goes blank).

Maybe the main problem is just the sequencing ... the fact that kill_python is only used at the start of a build (but after the svn step) and not during the clean step at the end of a test run?  In this case since the svn step was failing it probably never got as far as running kill_python[_d].