Questions on 64 bit versions of Python

[python at bdurham.com]

Background: I'm going to be processing some raw transaction logs that
are 30G in size. As part of this processing I may need to create some
very large dictionary structures. I will be running my scripts on a
version of Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition that supports 16G of
RAM. Yes, I could use a database in place of dictionaries, but I'm
looking for maximum performance.

The following page lists two 64 bit versions of Python for Windows:
http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5.2/

For Win64-Itanium users: python-2.5.2.ia64.msi
For Win64-AMD64 users: python-2.5.2.amd64.msi

1. It looks like the 64 bit versions of Python for Windows are CPU
vendor specific, eg. it doesn't look like there's a single, universal
executable for Windows 64 bit platforms. Is this true?

2. Are there limitations to the using the 64 bit versions of Python? I
seem to remember reading that many 3rd party modules (especially Windows
OS specific modules) may not be compatible with the 64 bit versions of
Python for Windows.

3. If I wanted to run a 64 bit version of Python under Linux, would I
need to recompile from source on 64 bit version of Linux or do 64 bit
versions of Linux automatically ship with 64 bit versions of Python?
(Any recommendations on a flavor of 64 bit of Linux for the Intel
architecture would be appreciated)

4. Is there a stable version of IronPython compiled under a 64 bit
version of .NET? Anyone have experience with such a beast?

Thank you,
Malcolm