standard Python build for Debian distributions

[Damon Fasching <fasching@design.lbl.gov>]

Hi,

I've noticed that the python executable which I get from Debian is about
a third the size of what I get if I download the tarball from python.org
and install myself, about 800KB vs 2.3KB, and that some standard (and
extremely useful) packages seem to missing.  On the debian side I use 
woody-unstable.  When I download and install the tarball, I don't change 
anything in the configuration...I just do configure; make; make install. 
I don't think the details of my setup are significant as I don't think
they could account for a factor of three size difference in the executable
size.  And even if they did, the real issue is some of the packages which
seem to be missing from the Debian build.  As an example, distutils seems
to be missing from the Debian build.  Is there a reason why a more
complete and standard set of packages are not included in the Debian
Python build?  I always have to go get and build Python myself from
python.org, which is extremely simple, but then I have two versions
sitting around...  Are there any plans to include packages like distutils
in the standard Debian distribution?

Thanks,
 Damon

---------

May the lights in The Land of Plenty
  shine on the Truth some day		L Cohen