I changed the value from 1000 to 200, and it crashed the same way, then I tested with 20, and it ran into a runtime error but in a different place:

c++ -pthread -L/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1 -Wl,--export-dynamic -o python  Modules/python.o  -lpython2.7 -pthread  -lutil   -lm  
/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/libpython2.7.so.0.0: warning: tmpnam() possibly used unsafely; consider using mkstemp()
/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/libpython2.7.so.0.0: warning: tempnam() possibly used unsafely; consider using mkstemp()
/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/libpython2.7.so.0.0: warning: strcpy() is almost always misused, please use strlcpy()
/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/libpython2.7.so.0.0: warning: sprintf() is often misused, please use snprintf()
/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/libpython2.7.so.0.0: warning: strcat() is almost always misused, please use strlcat()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/site.py", line 553, in <module>
    main()
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/site.py", line 535, in main
    known_paths = addusersitepackages(known_paths)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/site.py", line 268, in addusersitepackages
    user_site = getusersitepackages()
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/site.py", line 243, in getusersitepackages
    user_base = getuserbase() # this will also set USER_BASE
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/site.py", line 233, in getuserbase
    USER_BASE = get_config_var('userbase')
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sysconfig.py", line 535, in get_config_var
    return get_config_vars().get(name)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sysconfig.py", line 434, in get_config_vars
    _init_posix(_CONFIG_VARS)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sysconfig.py", line 282, in _init_posix
    _parse_makefile(makefile, vars)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sysconfig.py", line 195, in _parse_makefile
    _variable_rx = re.compile("([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]+)\s*=\s*(.*)")
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/re.py", line 190, in compile
    return _compile(pattern, flags)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/re.py", line 243, in _compile
    p = sre_compile.compile(pattern, flags)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sre_compile.py", line 500, in compile
    p = sre_parse.parse(p, flags)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sre_parse.py", line 673, in parse
    p = _parse_sub(source, pattern, 0)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sre_parse.py", line 308, in _parse_sub
    itemsappend(_parse(source, state))
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sre_parse.py", line 633, in _parse
    p = _parse_sub(source, state)
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sre_parse.py", line 308, in _parse_sub
    itemsappend(_parse(source, state))
  File "/home/ports/pobj/Python-2.7.1/Python-2.7.1/Lib/sre_parse.py", line 381, in _parse
    subpattern = SubPattern(state)
RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded while calling a Python object
*** Error code 1

Then I tried again with the value set to 100, and it ran into the original segfault again.

Thanks for your help.