diff --git a/Objects/bytesobject.c b/Objects/bytesobject.c
index 39f1a8b..2595ff2 100644
--- a/Objects/bytesobject.c
+++ b/Objects/bytesobject.c
@@ -2854,11 +2854,13 @@
 \n\
 Create a bytes object from a string of hexadecimal numbers.\n\
 Spaces between two numbers are accepted. Example:\n\
-bytes.fromhex('10 2030') -> bytes([0x10, 0x20, 0x30]).");
+bytes.fromhex('10 1112') -> b'\\x10\\x11\\x12'.");
 
 static int
-hex_digit_to_int(int c)
+hex_digit_to_int(Py_UNICODE c)
 {
+    if (c >= 128)
+        return -1;
     if (ISDIGIT(c))
         return c - '0';
     else {
@@ -2875,52 +2877,42 @@
 {
     PyObject *newbytes, *hexobj;
     char *buf;
-    unsigned char *hex;
-    Py_ssize_t byteslen, i, j;
+    Py_UNICODE *hex;
+    Py_ssize_t hexlen, byteslen, i, j;
     int top, bot;
-    Py_buffer vhex;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O:fromhex", &hexobj))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "U:fromhex", &hexobj))
         return NULL;
-
-    if (_getbuffer(hexobj, &vhex) < 0)
-        return NULL;
-
-    byteslen = vhex.len / 2; /* max length if there are no spaces */
-    hex = vhex.buf;
-
+    assert(PyUnicode_Check(hexobj));
+    hexlen = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(hexobj);
+    hex = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(hexobj);
+    byteslen = hexlen/2; /* This overestimates if there are spaces */
     newbytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, byteslen);
-    if (!newbytes) {
-        PyObject_ReleaseBuffer(hexobj, &vhex);
+    if (!newbytes)
         return NULL;
-    }
     buf = PyBytes_AS_STRING(newbytes);
-
-    for (i = j = 0; i < vhex.len; i += 2) {
+    for (i = j = 0; i < hexlen; i += 2) {
         /* skip over spaces in the input */
-        while (Py_CHARMASK(hex[i]) == ' ')
+        while (hex[i] == ' ')
             i++;
-        if (i >= vhex.len)
+        if (i >= hexlen)
             break;
-        top = hex_digit_to_int(Py_CHARMASK(hex[i]));
-        bot = hex_digit_to_int(Py_CHARMASK(hex[i+1]));
+        top = hex_digit_to_int(hex[i]);
+        bot = hex_digit_to_int(hex[i+1]);
         if (top == -1 || bot == -1) {
             PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError,
-                         "non-hexadecimal number string '%c%c' found in "
-                         "fromhex() arg at position %zd",
-                         hex[i], hex[i+1], i);
+                         "non-hexadecimal number found in "
+                         "fromhex() arg at position %zd", i);
             goto error;
         }
         buf[j++] = (top << 4) + bot;
     }
     if (PyBytes_Resize(newbytes, j) < 0)
         goto error;
-    PyObject_ReleaseBuffer(hexobj, &vhex);
     return newbytes;
 
   error:
     Py_DECREF(newbytes);
-    PyObject_ReleaseBuffer(hexobj, &vhex);
     return NULL;
 }
 
@@ -2964,57 +2956,65 @@
 
 static PyMethodDef
 bytes_methods[] = {
-    {"find", (PyCFunction)bytes_find, METH_VARARGS, find__doc__},
-    {"count", (PyCFunction)bytes_count, METH_VARARGS, count__doc__},
-    {"index", (PyCFunction)bytes_index, METH_VARARGS, index__doc__},
-    {"rfind", (PyCFunction)bytes_rfind, METH_VARARGS, rfind__doc__},
-    {"rindex", (PyCFunction)bytes_rindex, METH_VARARGS, rindex__doc__},
-    {"endswith", (PyCFunction)bytes_endswith, METH_VARARGS, endswith__doc__},
-    {"startswith", (PyCFunction)bytes_startswith, METH_VARARGS,
-                startswith__doc__},
-    {"lower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_lower, METH_NOARGS, _Py_lower__doc__},
-    {"upper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_upper, METH_NOARGS, _Py_upper__doc__},
+    {"__alloc__", (PyCFunction)bytes_alloc, METH_NOARGS, alloc_doc},
+    {"__reduce__", (PyCFunction)bytes_reduce, METH_NOARGS, reduce_doc},
+    {"append", (PyCFunction)bytes_append, METH_O, append__doc__},
     {"capitalize", (PyCFunction)stringlib_capitalize, METH_NOARGS,
      _Py_capitalize__doc__},
-    {"swapcase", (PyCFunction)stringlib_swapcase, METH_NOARGS,
-     _Py_swapcase__doc__},
-    {"islower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_islower, METH_NOARGS,_Py_islower__doc__},
-    {"isupper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isupper, METH_NOARGS,_Py_isupper__doc__},
-    {"isspace", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isspace, METH_NOARGS,_Py_isspace__doc__},
-    {"isdigit", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isdigit, METH_NOARGS,_Py_isdigit__doc__},
-    {"istitle", (PyCFunction)stringlib_istitle, METH_NOARGS,_Py_istitle__doc__},
-    {"isalpha", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalpha, METH_NOARGS,_Py_isalpha__doc__},
-    {"isalnum", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalnum, METH_NOARGS,_Py_isalnum__doc__},
-    {"replace", (PyCFunction)bytes_replace, METH_VARARGS, replace__doc__},
-    {"translate", (PyCFunction)bytes_translate, METH_VARARGS, translate__doc__},
-    {"partition", (PyCFunction)bytes_partition, METH_O, partition__doc__},
-    {"rpartition", (PyCFunction)bytes_rpartition, METH_O, rpartition__doc__},
-    {"split", (PyCFunction)bytes_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
-    {"rsplit", (PyCFunction)bytes_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
-    {"extend", (PyCFunction)bytes_extend, METH_O, extend__doc__},
-    {"insert", (PyCFunction)bytes_insert, METH_VARARGS, insert__doc__},
-    {"append", (PyCFunction)bytes_append, METH_O, append__doc__},
-    {"reverse", (PyCFunction)bytes_reverse, METH_NOARGS, reverse__doc__},
-    {"pop", (PyCFunction)bytes_pop, METH_VARARGS, pop__doc__},
-    {"remove", (PyCFunction)bytes_remove, METH_O, remove__doc__},
-    {"strip", (PyCFunction)bytes_strip, METH_VARARGS, strip__doc__},
-    {"lstrip", (PyCFunction)bytes_lstrip, METH_VARARGS, lstrip__doc__},
-    {"rstrip", (PyCFunction)bytes_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
-    {"decode", (PyCFunction)bytes_decode, METH_VARARGS, decode_doc},
-    {"__alloc__", (PyCFunction)bytes_alloc, METH_NOARGS, alloc_doc},
-    {"fromhex", (PyCFunction)bytes_fromhex, METH_VARARGS|METH_CLASS,
-     fromhex_doc},
-    {"join", (PyCFunction)bytes_join, METH_O, join_doc},
-    {"title", (PyCFunction)stringlib_title, METH_NOARGS, _Py_title__doc__},
-    {"ljust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_ljust, METH_VARARGS, ljust__doc__},
-    {"rjust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_rjust, METH_VARARGS, rjust__doc__},
     {"center", (PyCFunction)stringlib_center, METH_VARARGS, center__doc__},
-    {"zfill", (PyCFunction)stringlib_zfill, METH_VARARGS, zfill__doc__},
+    {"count", (PyCFunction)bytes_count, METH_VARARGS, count__doc__},
+    {"decode", (PyCFunction)bytes_decode, METH_VARARGS, decode_doc},
+    {"endswith", (PyCFunction)bytes_endswith, METH_VARARGS, endswith__doc__},
     {"expandtabs", (PyCFunction)stringlib_expandtabs, METH_VARARGS,
      expandtabs__doc__},
+    {"extend", (PyCFunction)bytes_extend, METH_O, extend__doc__},
+    {"find", (PyCFunction)bytes_find, METH_VARARGS, find__doc__},
+    {"fromhex", (PyCFunction)bytes_fromhex, METH_VARARGS|METH_CLASS,
+     fromhex_doc},
+    {"index", (PyCFunction)bytes_index, METH_VARARGS, index__doc__},
+    {"insert", (PyCFunction)bytes_insert, METH_VARARGS, insert__doc__},
+    {"isalnum", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalnum, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_isalnum__doc__},
+    {"isalpha", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalpha, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_isalpha__doc__},
+    {"isdigit", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isdigit, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_isdigit__doc__},
+    {"islower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_islower, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_islower__doc__},
+    {"isspace", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isspace, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_isspace__doc__},
+    {"istitle", (PyCFunction)stringlib_istitle, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_istitle__doc__},
+    {"isupper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isupper, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_isupper__doc__},
+    {"join", (PyCFunction)bytes_join, METH_O, join_doc},
+    {"ljust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_ljust, METH_VARARGS, ljust__doc__},
+    {"lower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_lower, METH_NOARGS, _Py_lower__doc__},
+    {"lstrip", (PyCFunction)bytes_lstrip, METH_VARARGS, lstrip__doc__},
+    {"partition", (PyCFunction)bytes_partition, METH_O, partition__doc__},
+    {"pop", (PyCFunction)bytes_pop, METH_VARARGS, pop__doc__},
+    {"remove", (PyCFunction)bytes_remove, METH_O, remove__doc__},
+    {"replace", (PyCFunction)bytes_replace, METH_VARARGS, replace__doc__},
+    {"reverse", (PyCFunction)bytes_reverse, METH_NOARGS, reverse__doc__},
+    {"rfind", (PyCFunction)bytes_rfind, METH_VARARGS, rfind__doc__},
+    {"rindex", (PyCFunction)bytes_rindex, METH_VARARGS, rindex__doc__},
+    {"rjust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_rjust, METH_VARARGS, rjust__doc__},
+    {"rpartition", (PyCFunction)bytes_rpartition, METH_O, rpartition__doc__},
+    {"rsplit", (PyCFunction)bytes_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
+    {"rstrip", (PyCFunction)bytes_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
+    {"split", (PyCFunction)bytes_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
     {"splitlines", (PyCFunction)stringlib_splitlines, METH_VARARGS,
      splitlines__doc__},
-    {"__reduce__", (PyCFunction)bytes_reduce, METH_NOARGS, reduce_doc},
+    {"startswith", (PyCFunction)bytes_startswith, METH_VARARGS ,
+     startswith__doc__},
+    {"strip", (PyCFunction)bytes_strip, METH_VARARGS, strip__doc__},
+    {"swapcase", (PyCFunction)stringlib_swapcase, METH_NOARGS,
+     _Py_swapcase__doc__},
+    {"title", (PyCFunction)stringlib_title, METH_NOARGS, _Py_title__doc__},
+    {"translate", (PyCFunction)bytes_translate, METH_VARARGS,
+     translate__doc__},
+    {"upper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_upper, METH_NOARGS, _Py_upper__doc__},
+    {"zfill", (PyCFunction)stringlib_zfill, METH_VARARGS, zfill__doc__},
     {NULL}
 };
 
diff --git a/Objects/stringobject.c b/Objects/stringobject.c
index eba3284..4b2778a 100644
--- a/Objects/stringobject.c
+++ b/Objects/stringobject.c
@@ -900,7 +900,7 @@
 				"strings are too large to concat");
 		return NULL;
 	}
-	  
+
 	/* Inline PyObject_NewVar */
 	op = (PyStringObject *)PyObject_MALLOC(sizeof(PyStringObject) + size);
 	if (op == NULL)
@@ -2260,7 +2260,7 @@
 
 	/* 1 at the end plus 1 after every character */
 	count = self_len+1;
-	if (maxcount < count) 
+	if (maxcount < count)
 		count = maxcount;
 
 	/* Check for overflow */
@@ -2277,7 +2277,7 @@
 				"replace string is too long");
 		return NULL;
 	}
-  
+
 	if (! (result = (PyStringObject *)
 	                 PyString_FromStringAndSize(NULL, result_len)) )
 		return NULL;
@@ -2291,7 +2291,7 @@
 	Py_MEMCPY(result_s, to_s, to_len);
 	result_s += to_len;
 	count -= 1;
-  
+
 	for (i=0; i<count; i++) {
 		*result_s++ = *self_s++;
 		Py_MEMCPY(result_s, to_s, to_len);
@@ -2323,7 +2323,7 @@
 	if (count == 0) {
 		return return_self(self);
 	}
-  
+
 	result_len = self_len - count;  /* from_len == 1 */
 	assert(result_len>=0);
 
@@ -2540,7 +2540,7 @@
 	end = self_s + self_len;
 	while (count-- > 0) {
 		next = findchar(start, end-start, from_c);
-		if (next == NULL) 
+		if (next == NULL)
 			break;
 
 		if (next == start) {
@@ -2875,43 +2875,6 @@
 }
 
 
-PyDoc_STRVAR(encode__doc__,
-"S.encode([encoding[,errors]]) -> object\n\
-\n\
-Encodes S using the codec registered for encoding. encoding defaults\n\
-to the default encoding. errors may be given to set a different error\n\
-handling scheme. Default is 'strict' meaning that encoding errors raise\n\
-a UnicodeEncodeError. Other possible values are 'ignore', 'replace' and\n\
-'xmlcharrefreplace' as well as any other name registered with\n\
-codecs.register_error that is able to handle UnicodeEncodeErrors.");
-
-static PyObject *
-string_encode(PyStringObject *self, PyObject *args)
-{
-    char *encoding = NULL;
-    char *errors = NULL;
-    PyObject *v;
-
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|ss:encode", &encoding, &errors))
-        return NULL;
-    v = PyString_AsEncodedObject((PyObject *)self, encoding, errors);
-    if (v == NULL)
-        goto onError;
-    if (!PyBytes_Check(v)) {
-        PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
-                     "[str8] encoder did not return a bytes object "
-                     "(type=%.400s)",
-                     Py_Type(v)->tp_name);
-        Py_DECREF(v);
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    return v;
-
- onError:
-    return NULL;
-}
-
-
 PyDoc_STRVAR(decode__doc__,
 "S.decode([encoding[,errors]]) -> object\n\
 \n\
@@ -2949,6 +2912,74 @@
 }
 
 
+PyDoc_STRVAR(fromhex_doc,
+"str8.fromhex(string) -> str8\n\
+\n\
+Create a str8 object from a string of hexadecimal numbers.\n\
+Spaces between two numbers are accepted. Example:\n\
+str8.fromhex('10 1112') -> s'\\x10\\x11\\x12'.");
+
+static int
+hex_digit_to_int(Py_UNICODE c)
+{
+    if (c >= 128)
+        return -1;
+    if (ISDIGIT(c))
+        return c - '0';
+    else {
+        if (ISUPPER(c))
+            c = TOLOWER(c);
+        if (c >= 'a' && c <= 'f')
+            return c - 'a' + 10;
+    }
+    return -1;
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+string_fromhex(PyObject *cls, PyObject *args)
+{
+	PyObject *newstring, *hexobj;
+	char *buf;
+	Py_UNICODE *hex;
+	Py_ssize_t hexlen, byteslen, i, j;
+	int top, bot;
+
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "U:fromhex", &hexobj))
+		return NULL;
+	assert(PyUnicode_Check(hexobj));
+	hexlen = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(hexobj);
+	hex = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(hexobj);
+	byteslen = hexlen/2; /* This overestimates if there are spaces */
+	newstring = PyString_FromStringAndSize(NULL, byteslen);
+	if (!newstring)
+		return NULL;
+	buf = PyString_AS_STRING(newstring);
+	for (i = j = 0; i < hexlen; i += 2) {
+		/* skip over spaces in the input */
+		while (hex[i] == ' ')
+			i++;
+		if (i >= hexlen)
+			break;
+		top = hex_digit_to_int(hex[i]);
+		bot = hex_digit_to_int(hex[i+1]);
+		if (top == -1 || bot == -1) {
+			PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError,
+				     "non-hexadecimal number found in "
+				     "fromhex() arg at position %zd", i);
+			goto error;
+		}
+		buf[j++] = (top << 4) + bot;
+	}
+	if (_PyString_Resize(&newstring, j) < 0)
+		goto error;
+	return newstring;
+
+  error:
+	Py_DECREF(newstring);
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+
 static PyObject *
 string_getnewargs(PyStringObject *v)
 {
@@ -2958,59 +2989,60 @@
 
 static PyMethodDef
 string_methods[] = {
-	{"join", (PyCFunction)string_join, METH_O, join__doc__},
-	{"split", (PyCFunction)string_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
-	{"rsplit", (PyCFunction)string_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
-	{"lower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_lower, METH_NOARGS, _Py_lower__doc__},
-	{"upper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_upper, METH_NOARGS, _Py_upper__doc__},
-	{"islower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_islower, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_islower__doc__},
-	{"isupper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isupper, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_isupper__doc__},
-	{"isspace", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isspace, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_isspace__doc__},
-	{"isdigit", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isdigit, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_isdigit__doc__},
-	{"istitle", (PyCFunction)stringlib_istitle, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_istitle__doc__},
-	{"isalpha", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalpha, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_isalpha__doc__},
-	{"isalnum", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalnum, METH_NOARGS,
-         _Py_isalnum__doc__},
+	{"__getnewargs__",	(PyCFunction)string_getnewargs,	METH_NOARGS},
 	{"capitalize", (PyCFunction)stringlib_capitalize, METH_NOARGS,
 	 _Py_capitalize__doc__},
+	{"center", (PyCFunction)stringlib_center, METH_VARARGS, center__doc__},
 	{"count", (PyCFunction)string_count, METH_VARARGS, count__doc__},
+	{"decode", (PyCFunction)string_decode, METH_VARARGS, decode__doc__},
 	{"endswith", (PyCFunction)string_endswith, METH_VARARGS,
-	 endswith__doc__},
-	{"partition", (PyCFunction)string_partition, METH_O, partition__doc__},
+         endswith__doc__},
+	{"expandtabs", (PyCFunction)stringlib_expandtabs, METH_VARARGS,
+	 expandtabs__doc__},
 	{"find", (PyCFunction)string_find, METH_VARARGS, find__doc__},
+        {"fromhex", (PyCFunction)string_fromhex, METH_VARARGS|METH_CLASS,
+         fromhex_doc},
 	{"index", (PyCFunction)string_index, METH_VARARGS, index__doc__},
+	{"isalnum", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalnum, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_isalnum__doc__},
+	{"isalpha", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isalpha, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_isalpha__doc__},
+	{"isdigit", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isdigit, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_isdigit__doc__},
+	{"islower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_islower, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_islower__doc__},
+	{"isspace", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isspace, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_isspace__doc__},
+	{"istitle", (PyCFunction)stringlib_istitle, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_istitle__doc__},
+	{"isupper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_isupper, METH_NOARGS,
+         _Py_isupper__doc__},
+	{"join", (PyCFunction)string_join, METH_O, join__doc__},
+	{"ljust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_ljust, METH_VARARGS, ljust__doc__},
+	{"lower", (PyCFunction)stringlib_lower, METH_NOARGS, _Py_lower__doc__},
 	{"lstrip", (PyCFunction)string_lstrip, METH_VARARGS, lstrip__doc__},
+	{"partition", (PyCFunction)string_partition, METH_O, partition__doc__},
 	{"replace", (PyCFunction)string_replace, METH_VARARGS, replace__doc__},
 	{"rfind", (PyCFunction)string_rfind, METH_VARARGS, rfind__doc__},
 	{"rindex", (PyCFunction)string_rindex, METH_VARARGS, rindex__doc__},
-	{"rstrip", (PyCFunction)string_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
+	{"rjust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_rjust, METH_VARARGS, rjust__doc__},
 	{"rpartition", (PyCFunction)string_rpartition, METH_O,
 	 rpartition__doc__},
+	{"rsplit", (PyCFunction)string_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
+	{"rstrip", (PyCFunction)string_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
+	{"split", (PyCFunction)string_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
+	{"splitlines", (PyCFunction)stringlib_splitlines, METH_VARARGS,
+	 splitlines__doc__},
 	{"startswith", (PyCFunction)string_startswith, METH_VARARGS,
-	 startswith__doc__},
+         startswith__doc__},
 	{"strip", (PyCFunction)string_strip, METH_VARARGS, strip__doc__},
 	{"swapcase", (PyCFunction)stringlib_swapcase, METH_NOARGS,
 	 _Py_swapcase__doc__},
+	{"title", (PyCFunction)stringlib_title, METH_NOARGS, _Py_title__doc__},
 	{"translate", (PyCFunction)string_translate, METH_VARARGS,
 	 translate__doc__},
-	{"title", (PyCFunction)stringlib_title, METH_NOARGS, _Py_title__doc__},
-	{"ljust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_ljust, METH_VARARGS, ljust__doc__},
-	{"rjust", (PyCFunction)stringlib_rjust, METH_VARARGS, rjust__doc__},
-	{"center", (PyCFunction)stringlib_center, METH_VARARGS, center__doc__},
+	{"upper", (PyCFunction)stringlib_upper, METH_NOARGS, _Py_upper__doc__},
 	{"zfill", (PyCFunction)stringlib_zfill, METH_VARARGS, zfill__doc__},
-	{"encode", (PyCFunction)string_encode, METH_VARARGS, encode__doc__},
-	{"decode", (PyCFunction)string_decode, METH_VARARGS, decode__doc__},
-	{"expandtabs", (PyCFunction)stringlib_expandtabs, METH_VARARGS,
-	 expandtabs__doc__},
-	{"splitlines", (PyCFunction)stringlib_splitlines, METH_VARARGS,
-	 splitlines__doc__},
-	{"__getnewargs__",	(PyCFunction)string_getnewargs,	METH_NOARGS},
 	{NULL,     NULL}		     /* sentinel */
 };