> python's requirements are a proper subset of go's, since building go requires > python be installed.
Not at all, I have no Python installed on any of my Plan 9 equipment and can build Go and most of its ecology on each of them (there are other issues, of course). What I can't do is "develop" the tool chain, for that I use Python/Mercurial/Codereview on a NetBSD host and, where sometimes git is required, I use my Ubuntu workstation. It's a mess, of course, but I manage to maintain some sort of discipline despite it all. ++L
