Issue #18807: If copying (no symlinks) specified for a venv, then the python interpreter aliases (python, python3) are now created by copying rather than symlinking.

Lib/venv/__init__.py

@@ -212,7 +212,10 @@ class EnvBuilder:
             for suffix in ('python', 'python3'):
                 path = os.path.join(binpath, suffix)
                 if not os.path.exists(path):
-                    os.symlink(exename, path)
+                    # Issue 18807: make copies if
+                    # symlinks are not wanted
+                    copier(context.env_exe, path)
+                    os.chmod(path, 0o755)
         else:
             subdir = 'DLLs'
             include = self.include_binary

Misc/NEWS

@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #18807: If copying (no symlinks) specified for a venv, then the python
+  interpreter aliases (python, python3) are now created by copying rather than
+  symlinking.
+
 - Issue #14710: pkgutil.get_loader() no longer raises an exception when None is
   found in sys.modules.