determine 32 or 64 bit architecture with python 2.2

["Martin v. Löwis"]

>> What happens when you fire up a 64-bit Python and type
>>     import sys; sys.maxint
>> at it?
> 
> That's not suitable, because of the differences between LP64 and LLP64
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit#64-bit_data_models ).

For the systems that the OP mentioned, sys.maxint is just fine:
AIX and Solaris both use LP64, and Windows is 32-bit only for
Python 2.2.

Regards,
Martin