> If this feature request is accepted, I can provide the patches.

Well, that's not how things work:  there isn't really a mechanism for 
'accepting' a feature request.  Even if there were, that wouldn't 
guarantee acceptance of a patch for that feature request.

For what it's worth, I think that there's a good chance that a well-
written patch for this feature request would be accepted:  it seems like a 
potentially useful addition, and I can't immediately see why it would be 
objectionable or controversial, but I haven't looked at the issue very 
closely.  I'd suggest that provided you don't get any negative feedback 
from the python-dev thread or from the comments in this issue in the next 
few days, then it's probably worth working on a patch.

I'd also be happy to review such a patch if/when it's ready.