First of all, I don't want Nick's proposal in this issue (the -p and --nopath0 flags) to be misunderstood because of me.  His is a great idea that will make a really useful shortcut available and will _not_ change any current behavior.

My (overly) long message is an attempt to justify going with a more drastic variation, to which your response applies exclusively.  I stand by what I said, but I would be quite happy with the original proposal, to which your response does not apply.  :)

Just wanted to make all that clear so I don't get in the way of a good thing.  :)

Your comments are spot on.  Your concerns are exactly the ones I would need to assuage before my alternative would be acceptable.  When I get a chance I'll take this to python-ideas.