This is python bug https://bugs.python.org/issue13146. Fixed since
python 3.4. It makes pyc creation atomic, preventing a race condition.
The patch has been rebased on our deterministic build patch.
It wasn't backported to python 2.7 because there was a complaint about
changed semantics. Since files are now created in a temporary directory
and then moved, symlinks will be overridden. See
https://bugs.python.org/issue17222.
That is an edge-case however. Ubuntu and debian have backported the fix
in 2013 already, making it mainstream enough for us to adopt.
9db3a5869e