>> OK. I will start from what is in your current repository (i.e., the initial ft4.py) and make isolated incremental changes that cumulatively will reach my current working file.
>> Patches:
>> 1) whitespace, spelling, other non-code changes
>> 2) re-arrangement
>> 3) through N): incremental fixups, each addressing a specific issue.
>This would be great thanks. So just to be clear you're doing that for this patch or just in the future?

Sigh. I guess I'd better start from the very first one: the "patch" (i.e. the whole file) named add_ft4. You should therefore ignore my most recent (i.e, only other) patch.

This will take awhile, so I may submit some intermediates one at a time. If I get ambitious I will submit multiple patches in a set. So, my proposed 
methodology is to pull a completely fresh repository, then begin a cycle of creating and soft-committing incremental patches, and then producing the
multi-patch single submittal. Is it acceptable to continue to use issue #4787 at least until I catch up?