> I agree with @p-ganssle, If exist some problem on initialize Python interpreter it would be great if it return a non-zero status and avoid an abort()

Since Python 3.8 (PEP 587), Python no longer call abort() on initialization error.

$ echo bug > abc.py

$ PYTHONPATH=$PWD python3.8 -c pass
Fatal Python error: init_sys_streams: can't initialize sys standard streams
Python runtime state: core initialized
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/io.py", line 52, in <module>
  File "/home/vstinner/abc.py", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'bug' is not defined

I don't think that it's worth it to change Python 3.7.

The initial issue was that abort() was called in this case. It's no longer the case, so I close the issue.

If someone cares abou the more general issue with the current directory being added to sys.path, please open a separated issue (or look for existing issues).