Eliminating X dependency from python

[Michael_google gmail_Gersten]

I have denyhosts installed. That's a nice python package.

It wants python (obviously).

But installing denyhosts installs python default, which installs tk by
default, which in turn brings in (just about)  the entire X package.

So, two questions:
1. Why is the default for a scripting language to bring in the entire
gui system? Why isn't that a variant?
2. What's the proper way to check for surprises like that beforehand?
(I'm finding out by repeating port echo leaves, port info leaves, sudo
port uninstall leaves, and making notes of what to reinstall later.)
3. For python, how do I specify "Give me command line scripting, no gui"?
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