can I delete one of *.py *.pyc *.pyo in /usr/lib/python2.3 ?

[Terry Reedy]

"Miernik" <miernik at ffii.org> wrote in message 
news:20050820134954.3750.4.NOFFLE at localhost.localdomain.local...
> On my Debian GNU/Linux system I have Python 2.3 installed in
> /usr/lib/python2.3/ where most Python system files like
>
> /usr/lib/python2.3/gzip.py
> /usr/lib/python2.3/gzip.pyc
> /usr/lib/python2.3/gzip.pyo
>
> live, besides of course /usr/bin/python2.3
>
> I noticed that all those files come in three "flavours":
> *.py *.pyc *.pyo
>
> Is it possible that only one "flavour" of these files is needed, and I 
> can
> delete the remaining two, any my Python installation will still work?
>
> The whole /usr/lib/python2.3/ directory takes up over 15 MB, deleting
> two "flavours" would save about 10 MB on my system, and that would help
> me much as I am trying to fit my system on a 256 MB SD card, to make it
> quiet (hard disks are noisy).

I do not know how Python files are structured on *nix, but it is possible 
that there are subdirectories that you can eliminate for a runtime system, 
such as /test.

Terry J. Reedy