This extension is one of the few extensions that Python typically comes with, but did not ship with the Python 2.3.0 for Mac OS X 10.3 due to missing dependencies: _bsddb (requires Berkeley DB) readline (requires GNU Readline) _tkinter (requires Tcl/Tk) The _bsddb and readline distributed here are linked statically to their respective dependencies. This means that they're self-contained. Installing this package will be sufficient for their use. _tkinter is linked dynamically to the TclTkAqua 8.4 frameworks, so if you don't already have it, you must download it from: http://tcltkaqua.sourceforge.net/