Merged revisions 69576,69579-69580,69589,69619-69620,69633,69703-69704,69728-69730 via svnmerge from

svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk

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  r69576 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-13 04:56:50 -0600 (Fri, 13 Feb 2009) | 1 line

  #1661108: note that urlsafe encoded string can contain "=".
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  r69579 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-13 05:06:59 -0600 (Fri, 13 Feb 2009) | 2 lines

  Fix warnings GCC emits where the argument of PyErr_Format is a single variable.
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  r69580 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-13 05:10:04 -0600 (Fri, 13 Feb 2009) | 2 lines

  Fix warnings GCC emits where the argument of PyErr_Format is a single variable.
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  r69589 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-02-13 14:11:34 -0600 (Fri, 13 Feb 2009) | 2 lines

  Move amd64 properties further to the top, so that they override
  the linker options correctly.
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  r69619 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-02-14 11:00:51 -0600 (Sat, 14 Feb 2009) | 1 line

  this needn't be a shebang line
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  r69620 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-14 11:01:36 -0600 (Sat, 14 Feb 2009) | 1 line

  #5179: don't leak PIPE fds when child execution fails.
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  r69633 | hirokazu.yamamoto | 2009-02-15 03:19:48 -0600 (Sun, 15 Feb 2009) | 1 line

  Fixed typo.
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  r69703 | raymond.hettinger | 2009-02-16 16:42:54 -0600 (Mon, 16 Feb 2009) | 3 lines

  Issue 5229: Documentation for super() neglects to say what super() actually does
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  r69704 | raymond.hettinger | 2009-02-16 17:00:25 -0600 (Mon, 16 Feb 2009) | 1 line

  Add explanation for super(type1, type2).
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  r69728 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-17 18:22:55 -0600 (Tue, 17 Feb 2009) | 2 lines

  #5297: fix example.
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  r69729 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-17 18:25:13 -0600 (Tue, 17 Feb 2009) | 2 lines

  #5296: sequence -> iterable.
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  r69730 | georg.brandl | 2009-02-17 18:31:36 -0600 (Tue, 17 Feb 2009) | 2 lines

  #5268: mention VMSError.
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1 files changed, 9 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst b/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst
index 1e3cb85..d1e89e5 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/simple_stmts.rst
@@ -116,7 +116,12 @@ square brackets, is recursively defined as follows.
 
 * If the target list is a single target: The object is assigned to that target.
 
-* If the target list is a comma-separated list of targets:
+* If the target list is a comma-separated list of targets: The object must be an
+  iterable with the same number of items as there are targets in the target list,
+  and the items are assigned, from left to right, to the corresponding targets.
+  (This rule is relaxed as of Python 1.5; in earlier versions, the object had to
+  be a tuple.  Since strings are sequences, an assignment like ``a, b = "xy"`` is
+  now legal as long as the string has the right length.)
 
   * If the target list contains one target prefixed with an asterisk, called a
     "starred" target: The object must be a sequence with at least as many items
@@ -152,9 +157,9 @@ Assignment of an object to a single target is recursively defined as follows.
   be deallocated and its destructor (if it has one) to be called.
 
 * If the target is a target list enclosed in parentheses or in square brackets:
-  The object must be a sequence with the same number of items as there are targets
-  in the target list, and its items are assigned, from left to right, to the
-  corresponding targets.
+  The object must be an iterable with the same number of items as there are
+  targets in the target list, and its items are assigned, from left to right,
+  to the corresponding targets.
 
   .. index:: pair: attribute; assignment