Currently, [[http://virtualenv.org|virtualenv]] is a separate application, allowing virtualization of Python installations. For Python 3.3, a built-in mechanism is being developed.

Possible GSoC projects:

 * [[https://bitbucket.org/carljm/cpythonv/issue/8/add-test-suite|Creating a test suite]] for this virtualization mechanism.

 * Building [[https://bitbucket.org/carljm/cpythonv/issue/7/add-virtualizepy-to-standard-library|the standard-library module]] that will actually create virtual environments, by copying or symlinking the python binary to a given location and placing a default virtualization config file near it.

Important background information to review if proposing to work on this:

 * [[http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/distutils-sig|Distutils-SIG]] mailing list threads mentioning "pythonv," beginning with "[[http://mail.python.org/pipermail/distutils-sig/2011-March/017498.html|early preview of pythonv]]."

 * The [[https://bitbucket.org/carljm/cpythonv|work-in-progress repository]] at Bitbucket and its [[https://bitbucket.org/carljm/cpythonv/issues|open issues]].

 * The [[https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv|source code of virtualenv]].

 * This [[http://pycon.blip.tv/file/4881525/|PyCon presentation]] on how virtualenv works.