old_contents: # spawn - This is ugly, OS-specific code to spawn a separate process.  It
  #         also defines a function for getting the version of a path most
  #         likely to work with cranky API functions.
  
  import os
  
  def hardpath(path):
      path = os.path.normcase(os.path.abspath(path))
      try:
          import win32api
          path = win32api.GetShortPathName( path )
      except:
          pass
      return path
  
  if hasattr(os, 'spawnv'):
  
    # Windows-ish OS: we use spawnv(), and stick quotes around arguments
    #   in case they contains spaces, since Windows will jam all the
    #   arguments to spawn() or exec() together into one string.  The
    #   kill_zombies function is a noop.
  
    def spawn(bin, *args):
      nargs = [bin]
      for arg in args:
        nargs.append( '"'+arg+'"' )
      os.spawnv( os.P_NOWAIT, bin, nargs )
  
    def kill_zombies(): pass
  
  elif hasattr(os, 'fork'):
  
    # UNIX-ish operating system: we fork() and exec(), and we have to track
    #   the pids of our children and call waitpid() on them to avoid leaving
    #   zombies in the process table.  kill_zombies() does the dirty work, and
    #   should be called periodically.
  
    zombies = []
  
    def spawn(bin, *args):
      pid = os.fork()
      if pid:
        zombies.append(pid)
      else:
        os.execv( bin, (bin, ) + args )
  
    def kill_zombies():
        for z in zombies[:]:
            stat = os.waitpid(z, os.WNOHANG)
            if stat[0]==z:
                zombies.remove(z)
  
  else:
    # If you get here, you may be able to write an alternative implementation
    # of these functions for your OS.
  
    def kill_zombies(): pass
  
    raise OSError, 'This OS does not support fork() or spawnv().'
  
new_contents: # spawn - This is ugly, OS-specific code to spawn a separate process.  It
  #         also defines a function for getting the version of a path most
  #         likely to work with cranky API functions.
  
  import os
  
  def hardpath(path):
      path = os.path.normcase(os.path.abspath(path))
      try:
          import win32api
          path = win32api.GetShortPathName( path )
      except:
          pass
      return path
  
  if hasattr(os, 'fork'):
  
    # UNIX-ish operating system: we fork() and exec(), and we have to track
    #   the pids of our children and call waitpid() on them to avoid leaving
    #   zombies in the process table.  kill_zombies() does the dirty work, and
    #   should be called periodically.
  
    zombies = []
  
    def spawn(bin, *args):
      pid = os.fork()
      if pid:
        zombies.append(pid)
      else:
        os.execv( bin, (bin, ) + args )
  
    def kill_zombies():
        for z in zombies[:]:
            stat = os.waitpid(z, os.WNOHANG)
            if stat[0]==z:
                zombies.remove(z)
  elif hasattr(os, 'spawnv'):
  
    # Windows-ish OS: we use spawnv(), and stick quotes around arguments
    #   in case they contains spaces, since Windows will jam all the
    #   arguments to spawn() or exec() together into one string.  The
    #   kill_zombies function is a noop.
  
    def spawn(bin, *args):
      nargs = [bin]
      for arg in args:
        nargs.append( '"'+arg+'"' )
      os.spawnv( os.P_NOWAIT, bin, nargs )
  
    def kill_zombies(): pass
  
  else:
    # If you get here, you may be able to write an alternative implementation
    # of these functions for your OS.
  
    def kill_zombies(): pass
  
    raise OSError, 'This OS does not support fork() or spawnv().'
  
subject: Change for Python 1.6 compatibility - UNIX's 'os' module defines 'spawnv' now, so we check for 'fork' first.