Hi, In: get_config_vars(*args): global _config_vars if _config_vars is None: ... else: ... ... even on the first invocation, it appears _config_vars has some valid data, supposedly picked up from the makefile of the build python... But can't seem to track down where its actually reading/stuffing info into _config_vars. The build system is i686 linux. That said, I don't even see the _init_posix getting invoked for it to read the makefile. In my attemp to cross compile a C extension on a i686 linux box targetting a ppc linux box, I'm hoping to intervene and have it read the config info from the corresponding target python's makefile, and not that of the build python's... I tried asking on comp.lang.python, but to no avail... Thanks much. /venkat