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Please see 
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2001-August/016944.html
for my primary concerns about this change in configuration 
procedures.

As for the specific patch:
- There is a comment "NeXT framework builds require that 
the 'ar' library", however the next fragment does not 
mention either are nor libtool. The comment, at a minimum, 
should explain what BLDLIBRARY is.
- What is the rationale for the various -u options? I find 
it extremely strange that you need such options. What 
happens if you leave them out? Where does the specific 
selection of -u option come from? Is that a hack around a 
problem that is not fully understood, or is it a procedure 
endorsed and documented by Apple? This is mysterious 
enough to require an elaborate comment on what exactly 
these symbols are, and why it is necessary to make them 
undefined.