Comment 33 for bug 367573

While totem isn't written in Python, many of its plugins are, and totem has a module written to handle python plugins. So if a python coded plugin is enabled when totem is closed, a custom python installed in /usr/local/bin/, and totem restarted, when it reloads its python based plugins import errors occur because the custom python can't find required modules (as described in the link provided by anonyMouse on 2009-05-10).

An alternative to deleting the python binaries from /usr/local/bin is to go to /usr/lib/totem/plugins and prevent access to any folder (using chmod 700 <folder> or tarballing for example) that is a python based plugin (the folder will contain .py/.pyc files). While this is still a band-aid solution, it is an option for those who wish to keep their custom python install in preference to totem's plugins.