I think that this issue needs to be reopened... since it never has been resolved...
I just downloaded the new version of Python 3.2 and tried to compile, install and use it on Redhat Linux.

Installation went fine (configure with --prefix=/usr/mysoft/python32)...

But when using Python I get the following error message:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/sysconfig.py", line 332, in _init_posix
    _parse_makefile(makefile, vars)
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/sysconfig.py", line 220, in _parse_makefile
    with open(filename, errors="surrogateescape") as f:
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'lib/python3.2/config-3.2m/Makefile'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/site.py", line 529, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/site.py", line 517, in main
    known_paths = addusersitepackages(known_paths)
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/site.py", line 263, in addusersitepackages
    user_site = getusersitepackages()
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/site.py", line 238, in getusersitepackages
    user_base = getuserbase() # this will also set USER_BASE
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/site.py", line 228, in getuserbase
    USER_BASE = get_config_var('userbase')
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/sysconfig.py", line 590, in get_config_var
    return get_config_vars().get(name)
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/sysconfig.py", line 487, in get_config_vars
    _init_posix(_CONFIG_VARS)
  File "/usr/mysoft/python32/lib/python3.2/sysconfig.py", line 337, in _init_posix
    raise IOError(msg)
IOError: invalid Python installation: unable to open lib/python3.2/config-3.2m/Makefile (No such file or directory)

... I never heard about virtualenv before and I don't know what is the impact of that library, but I guess a just released version of Python should work out of the box?!? (Final 3.2 release)
(I was using Python 3.1.3 on the same machine without any hitch...)