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+# __COPYRIGHT__
+
+This subdirectory contains a harness and various timing tests that we've
+used to decide on the most efficient implementation of various pieces
+of the code base.  We're checking these in here so that they're always
+available in case we have to revisit these decisions.
+
+NOTE:  This harness is for horse-racing specific snippets of Python
+code to select the best implementation to use within a given function
+or subsystem.  It's not intended for end-to-end testing of SCons itself.
+
+Contents of the directory:
+
+    README.txt
+
+        What you're reading right now.
+
+    bench.py
+
+        The harness for running the timing tests that make up
+        the rest of the directory's contents.  Use it to run
+        one of the timing tests as follows:
+
+                python bench.py FILE
+
+        Various command-line options control the number of runs, the
+        number of iterations on each run, etc.  Help for the command-line
+        options is available:
+
+                python bench.py -h
+
+    is_types.py
+    lvars-gvars.py
+    [etc.]
+
+        The rest of the files in this directory should each contain a
+        specific timing test, consisting of various functions to be run
+        against each other, and test data to be passed to the functions.
+
+        Yes, this list of files will get out of date.