Checkin of Jack's buffer mods.
Not really checked, but didn't fail any tests either...
diff --git a/Objects/fileobject.c b/Objects/fileobject.c
index cee41a1..a4b1d4b 100644
--- a/Objects/fileobject.c
+++ b/Objects/fileobject.c
@@ -419,6 +419,41 @@
 	return v;
 }
 
+static PyObject *
+file_readinto(f, args)
+	PyFileObject *f;
+	PyObject *args;
+{
+	char *ptr;
+	int ntodo, ndone, nnow;
+	
+	if (f->f_fp == NULL)
+		return err_closed();
+	if (!PyArg_Parse(args, "w#", &ptr, &ntodo))
+		return NULL;
+	ndone = 0;
+	/* 
+	** XXXX Is this correct? Other threads may see partially-completed
+	** reads if they look at the object we're reading into...
+	*/
+	Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+	while(ntodo > 0) {
+		nnow = fread(ptr+ndone, 1, ntodo, f->f_fp);
+		if (nnow < 0 ) {
+			PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_IOError);
+			clearerr(f->f_fp);
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		if (nnow == 0)
+			break;
+		ndone += nnow;
+		ntodo -= nnow;
+	}
+	Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+	return PyInt_FromLong(ndone);
+}
+
+
 /* Internal routine to get a line.
    Size argument interpretation:
    > 0: max length;
@@ -688,6 +723,7 @@
 	{"tell",	(PyCFunction)file_tell, 0},
 	{"write",	(PyCFunction)file_write, 0},
 	{"writelines",	(PyCFunction)file_writelines, 0},
+	{"readinto",	(PyCFunction)file_readinto, 0},
 	{NULL,		NULL}		/* sentinel */
 };
 
diff --git a/Objects/stringobject.c b/Objects/stringobject.c
index 1f95aa1..dbcb1a9 100644
--- a/Objects/stringobject.c
+++ b/Objects/stringobject.c
@@ -456,6 +456,40 @@
 	return x;
 }
 
+static int
+string_buffer_getreadbuf(self, index, ptr)
+	PyStringObject *self;
+	int index;
+	const void **ptr;
+{
+	if ( index != 0 ) {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_SystemError, "Accessing non-existent string segment");
+		return -1;
+	}
+	*ptr = (void *)self->ob_sval;
+	return self->ob_size;
+}
+
+static int
+string_buffer_getwritebuf(self, index, ptr)
+	PyStringObject *self;
+	int index;
+	const void **ptr;
+{
+	PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Cannot use string as modifyable buffer");
+	return -1;
+}
+
+static int
+string_buffer_getsegcount(self, lenp)
+	PyStringObject *self;
+	int *lenp;
+{
+	if ( lenp )
+		*lenp = self->ob_size;
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static PySequenceMethods string_as_sequence = {
 	(inquiry)string_length, /*sq_length*/
 	(binaryfunc)string_concat, /*sq_concat*/
@@ -466,6 +500,12 @@
 	0,		/*sq_ass_slice*/
 };
 
+static PyBufferProcs string_as_buffer = {
+	(getreadbufferproc)string_buffer_getreadbuf,
+	(getwritebufferproc)string_buffer_getwritebuf,
+	(getsegcountproc)string_buffer_getsegcount,
+};
+
 PyTypeObject PyString_Type = {
 	PyObject_HEAD_INIT(&PyType_Type)
 	0,
@@ -486,7 +526,7 @@
 	0,		/*tp_str*/
 	0,		/*tp_getattro*/
 	0,		/*tp_setattro*/
-	0,		/*tp_xxx3*/
+	&string_as_buffer,	/*tp_as_buffer*/
 	0,		/*tp_xxx4*/
 	0,		/*tp_doc*/
 };