Jim Blandy is the author of the patch below. I have looked it over
though and it looks reasonable to me. Also, I have tested Jim's work
and see no regressions nor any new failures as a result of the tests
that Jim has added.
I have tried to think of ways to break these changes up so that they
may be committed it in smaller sections. With the exception of
possible separate commits for the documentation and testsuite
portions, I can't think of any further divisions which make sense.
I'll wait a week for comments after which time, if there are no
objections, I'll commit it.
Kevin,