test_threads fails on Mac?

[Owen Ransen]

I downloaded Python (which gives me this version
info:

Python 2.0 (#71, Oct 22 2000, 22:09:24)  [CW PPC w/GUSI2 w/THREADS]

and run test.autotest, and it appears to crash
when it reaches test_threads. I think it crashes because
the machine it just sits there and I can't switch
out of Python to any other application.

Is this a known bug?

The readme says I may need to "run compileall" before testing, but 
as a Python beginner I do not know what that means. 

TIA

Owen