help w/ putenv

[czrpb]

I run the following script:

    import sys,os

    value=sys.argv[1]

    os.environ["PWD"]=value

    os.putenv("PWD",value)

    os.system("printenv")

in the following way:

    %strace ./script.py "hi mom" |& fgrep -i 'putenv'

And see NO system calls to putenv.

When compiling python do I need to set something to get this to work?
What else am I missing?

thanks!

Quentin