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> Support for compressed
> files didn't work from the build directory, since the zlib
> import happens before site.py is run.

I imported zlib before site.py is imported because site.py
may itself be in a compressed zip archive.  It looks like
your trick of importing zlib in site.py works, and there is
no need to limit it to running from the build directory
since "import zlib" is cheap.  An alternative is to try a
zlib import after site.py is imported.
 
As noted, this patch may not be accepted anyway, so I will
stand by on this and any other problems.