Index: subversion/bindings/swig/core.i
===================================================================
--- subversion/bindings/swig/core.i	(revision 16478)
+++ subversion/bindings/swig/core.i	(working copy)
@@ -638,8 +638,7 @@
 /* Theoretically, we should be checking for errors from these calls,
    but I do not know of any useful way to signal an error to Python
    from within a module initialization function. */
-apr_initialize();
-atexit(apr_terminate);
+svn_swig_py_initialize();
 
 /* This is a hack.  I dunno if we can count on SWIG calling the module "m" */
 PyModule_AddObject(m, "SubversionException", 
Index: subversion/bindings/swig/python/libsvn_swig_py/swigutil_py.c
===================================================================
--- subversion/bindings/swig/python/libsvn_swig_py/swigutil_py.c	(revision 16479)
+++ subversion/bindings/swig/python/libsvn_swig_py/swigutil_py.c	(working copy)
@@ -110,6 +110,15 @@
 static char emptyTuple[] = "()";
 static char objectTuple[] = "(O)";
 
+/* Initialize the libsvn_swig_py library */
+apr_status_t svn_swig_py_initialize(void)
+{
+  apr_status_t status = apr_initialize();
+  if (status == APR_SUCCESS) {
+    atexit(apr_terminate);
+  }
+  return status;
+}
 
 /* Set the application pool */
 void svn_swig_py_set_application_pool(PyObject *py_pool, apr_pool_t *pool) 
Index: subversion/bindings/swig/python/libsvn_swig_py/swigutil_py.h
===================================================================
--- subversion/bindings/swig/python/libsvn_swig_py/swigutil_py.h	(revision 16479)
+++ subversion/bindings/swig/python/libsvn_swig_py/swigutil_py.h	(working copy)
@@ -61,6 +61,10 @@
 
 /*** Automatic Pool Management Functions ***/
 
+/* Initialize the libsvn_swig_py library */
+SVN_SWIG_SWIGUTIL_EXPORT
+apr_status_t svn_swig_py_initialize(void);
+
 /* Set the application pool */
 SVN_SWIG_SWIGUTIL_EXPORT
 void svn_swig_py_set_application_pool(PyObject *py_pool, apr_pool_t *pool);