OK, I am now convinced that even with this patch, the Python build
process still won't work correctly because --libdir (post-patch) will
not correctly set the default PYTHONHOME.  Moreover, the very way that
PYTHONHOME gets used needs to change.  PYTHONHOME specifies "prefix"
and/or "exec_prefix", but the problem is that to find the lib dir,
Python tacks "lib/pythonX.X" onto the ends of these paths!  More info here:

http://docs.python.org/using/unix.html#python-related-paths-and-files
http://docs.python.org/using/cmdline.html#envvar-PYTHONHOME

So, even with this patch, I still can't install, for example, to:
/home/soundmurderer/lib/x86_64/python2.6

I am forced to install to a location that ends with "lib/python2.6", e.g.:

/home/soundmurderer/x86_64/lib/python2.6

or else hack some stuff together with symlinks to make PYTHONHOME go to
the right place.

This seems to be a problem more fundamental than just incomplete
"./configure" in the build process and I think it warrants another
ticket, which I'm about to open.

Now, in regards to --libdir, even though the patch makes the
installation put the files in the expected location, Python will
probably not find it.