> 2) http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=12453

We actually had another issue due to this particular libc bug:

http://bugs.python.org/issue6059

Basically, the problem is that if some libraries are dynamically
loaded in an interleaved way, the TLS can be returned uninitialized,
hence the segfault upon access.
This problem can show up now because the import orders for some
modules have been modified: depending on the test that crashes - or
rather the tests that run just before - you might be able to pinpoint
it quickly (or you could maybe use "ltrace -e dlopen").

>> Apparently, Etch on ARM uses linuxthread instead of NPTL ...
>
> FYI you can also try to print sys.thread_info (which should give the same information, "NPTL 2.7").
>
> NPTL has know issues: see for example the Python issue #4970. NPTL is old and has been replaced by pthread in the glibc on Linux.

I think you're confusing with linuxthreads ;-)