Maybe you should check the Slax distro. Go to www.slax.org. There is one special slax distro caled Frodo. I think that it includes nearly nothing but the core. There are also several packages for the distro that you can put inside the distro and create your own distribution. There are also detailed instructions. This way you can create a Live distro, but there are also instruction on how to install it on the HDD.
If I understood your question then I guess that this should be the answer. best regards -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list