Thank you for understanding my concern.



> The standard failure message for each *assert method* contains useful  
> information about the objects involved.  For example the message from 
> assertEqual shows the repr of the two unequal objects.  It is usually 
> easier to augment rather than replace this message

I think above is not needed.


> The class setting can be overridden in individual test methods by 
> assigning an instance attribute, self.longMessage, to True or False 
> before calling the assert methods.

I would add "the default value of the class gets reset before each test call". That is more explicit (I hope my text is what happens behind the scene)

Again, thank you, that you care.

Regards,
  Thomas Güttler