What is the purpose of python 2.7's download package "Windows x86 MSI program database"?

Question

Upgrading from python 2.5/2.6 to python 2.7 on WinXP, I've found new download package forms for python at http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7.1/.

So I'm wondering what is the purpose of python 2.7's download package "Windows x86 MSI program database"? Searching on web didn't bring me clarifications on this.

Actually it contains lots for .pdb library files, which on my PC are associated to Palm PDB files. This should be false, as Palm OS is dead.

Answer 1

It is the Python windows executable with debugging extensions. Having it as part of standard release was costly in terms of size and It was made available because in Windows due to differences in Windows versions and Visual studio versions and updates, building one by the user may not represent the DLL that distributed with Python. More details are available here http://bugs.python.org/issue1303434

Answer 2

.pdb is an extension used by Visual Studio for debugging token databases. That package looks like it's there for those who wish to debug Python. You'll still need the standard Python libraries/executables if you wish to debug python.