I'd prefer these changes go in 1.40.0 if possible. Since they have

been stable on trunk, and we are waiting a few more days anyhow for beta feedback, I don't see a lot of risk. So please merge, and then watch the release tests to make sure nothing breaks.

All {boost,libs}/python changes are now merged into the release branch. Thanks to Steven Watanabe and Henrik Sundberg for pointing out the http vs. https problem. Ralf