Logged In: NO 

It's not a question of *believing* that PYTHONPATH is
ignored: that is the observed behavior! (I am using
2.1.1.)

Whether I compile my client code with debug or not should
have nothing to do with what Python library I include.
(Note that I'm talking about *my* client code, not
compiling Python itself.) The Python #includes should not
be selecting a library for me, but should let me specify it
in my build environment. This is the way virtually every
3rd-party library is set up for both Windows and *nix
systems and the way I expected Python to behave. Whether
or not Windows defines _DEBUG shouldn't matter either --
I should have independent control. (I even when to the
lengths of undeffing DEBUG, _DEBUG, and Py_Debug prior to
including any Python headers -- still didn't help.)

Keep in mind that Python is not the core of my application.
It doesn't control the main loop. In fact I entirely
encapsulate the C API to Python so that my clients can
define commands without ever having to include Python.h
themselves. Python is just one piece of a very large system
(and a replacable piece at that) and can't dictate build
or compile requirements.

I'll check the system libraries, but I'm pretty sure they
are the multithreaded versions. (I think I'd be seeing
different symptoms if I had the wrong system libraries.)
Unfortunately, I can't send you samples due to
confidentiality concerns. Rest assured, however, that
I am describing the problems accurately.

Try it yourself! Uninstall python, just retaining the
normal link libraries and dlls and the headers. Now build
an application using just the C API. Not as simple as it
sounds (or is with competing tools such as Tcl).