tried again with
/configure --prefix=/home/tony/root/usr/local/python-2.5.2 --with-tcl
--disable-shared

No change

But I noticed this when it recompiled.  Maybe it is related.

gcc -pthread -c -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall
-Wstrict-prototypes  -I. -IInclude -I./Include   -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o
Objects/obmalloc.o Objects/obmalloc.c
Objects/obmalloc.c: In function `new_arena':
Objects/obmalloc.c:529: warning: comparison is always false due to
limited range of data type

(code fragment)

        /* Double the number of arena objects on each allocation.
         * Note that it's possible for `numarenas` to overflow.
         */
        numarenas = maxarenas ? maxarenas << 1 : INITIAL_ARENA_OBJECTS;
        if (numarenas <= maxarenas)
            return NULL;    /* overflow */
        if (numarenas > PY_SIZE_MAX / sizeof(*arenas)) /* line 529 here */
            return NULL;    /* overflow */
        nbytes = numarenas * sizeof(*arenas);
        arenaobj = (struct arena_object *)realloc(arenas, nbytes);
        if (arenaobj == NULL)
            return NULL;
        arenas = arenaobj;