Some strace data:

WORKS:
<Python 2.3.4 (#1, Jan  9 2007, 16:40:09)>
 strace -cf ./test.py >/tmp/out
Process 9439 detached
% time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
 33.10    0.009125           8      1086       956 open
 23.47    0.006469           7       930           recvfrom
  9.67    0.002667           9       311       278 stat
  8.10    0.002234          14       165           read
  3.40    0.000936           7       133           mmap
  3.25    0.000896           6       144           close
  3.24    0.000892          45        20           poll
  2.97    0.000818           5       173           fstat
  2.83    0.000780          15        53           munmap
  2.13    0.000588         118         5         3 execve
  1.34    0.000369           9        39           mprotect
  1.13    0.000312           4        72           rt_sigaction
  0.66    0.000183           5        35           futex
  0.64    0.000176          10        17           brk
  0.61    0.000169          12        14           sendto
  0.57    0.000158          26         6           write
  0.50    0.000139           4        34           fcntl
  0.49    0.000134          10        14           socket
  0.40    0.000111           4        25           lseek
  0.36    0.000100           7        14         2 connect
  0.34    0.000093          23         4           getdents64
  0.27    0.000074           5        14         2 ioctl
  0.17    0.000048           4        11           gettimeofday
  0.06    0.000016           8         2         2 access
  0.05    0.000014           7         2         2 readlink
  0.04    0.000010           5         2           arch_prctl
  0.04    0.000010           5         2           time
  0.03    0.000009           9         1           _sysctl
  0.03    0.000008           8         1           lstat
  0.03    0.000008           4         2           uname
  0.02    0.000006           6         1           rt_sigprocmask
  0.02    0.000006           6         1           getcwd
  0.01    0.000004           4         1           getrlimit
  0.01    0.000004           4         1           set_tid_address
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
100.00    0.027566                  3335      1245 total
<Python 2.3.4 (#1, Jan  9 2007, 16:40:09)>

I am still compiling the same data for Python 2.4.3 (#1, Dec 11 2006,
11:39:03).  However, this could take hours...  as 2.4+ seem to be
problematic.