Oops. Typo in the bottom couple lines of my post. The correction and clarification is: Version 2.0 has None > sys.maxint (and I liked it that way) Version 2.1.1 has None < sys.minint (and I wish it weren't) Version 2.1.1 seems to be a reversion to 1.5.1 and earlier in this respect. I am a fan of the 1.5.2-to-2.0 way. Thanks, Manus