workaround for Issue5228 (see http://bugs.python.org/issue5228)

issue5228_workaround.py

from functools import partial
from multiprocessing import Pool
import sys


def power(x, pwr=2):
    return x**pwr

def uncurry(r):
    return power(r[0], **r[1])

def curry(cases, **kwargs):
    for case in cases:
        yield case, kwargs

if __name__ == "__main__":
    pool = Pool()
    cases = [3,4,5]
    if sys.version_info < (2, 7):
        print 'version %d.%d.%d (< 2.7)' % sys.version_info[:3]
        results = pool.map(uncurry, curry(cases, pwr=3))
    else:
        print 'version %d.%d.%d (>= 2.7)' % sys.version_info[:3]
        results = pool.map(partial(power, pwr=3), cases)
    print results