This is still an issue in Python 2.7.3 but there is a quick manual workaround. I know it's trivial and one can easily develop it from what is said in the thread or maybe looking at the patches, but for reference this is a nice recipe as oppose to digging through many messages

1) build as usual, but redirect the output/error stream in a file, for example if your shell is bash (I find this to always be a good idea):

make > make.log 2>&1

2) Towards the end of make.log there will be the following message. If you don't see this message, you don't have this problem, but possibly a different one:

Failed to build these modules:
dbm


3) execute
grep "\-o .*/dbmmodule.o" make.log

This will find a compiler line. Cut, paste and and execute that command

4) grep "\-o .*/dbm.so" make.log

This will find another compiler line. Cut, paste and and execute that command, ADDING (this is essential) -lgdbm_compat

5) (optional) you may want to remove dbm_failed.so (in the same directory where the previous bullet creates dbm.so)