py_interface and extended pids and ports

[Clint Miller]

Hi there erlang gurus -

I'm trying to reuse a python codebase that *I believe* is a good
candidate to live it's next life as a set of erlang nodes.  So, I was
naturally drawn to py_interface.  On running the tests I get

=ERROR REPORT==== 22-Jul-2006::11:02:54 ===
** enode1@REDACTED: Connection attempt to node
py_interface_test@REDACTED aborted since it cannot handle extended
pids and ports. **

The occurs with R10B-10 and R11B-0 on both linux and OSX.  I've not
tried any earlier versions.
Googling erlang.org for this I find this conversation and accompanying
totally untested patch.

http://www.erlang.org/ml-archive/erlang-questions/200504/msg00012.html

It says that the ports and pids extension occured in R10.  The patch
doesn't work (being totally untested and all...no surprise there) but
the tests then do merely time out.   So, I tried the +R flag to erl
and viola!  Works consistently with +R 9.

Now, my questions are these:

*) what do I lose or risk by using +R 9 throughout my erlang
development?  Do I give up feeatures/bugfixes/etc introduced in R10
and beyond?
*) can someone point me to where I would look in the erlang codebase /
docs to start implementing extended ports and pids in py_interface so
that I don't have to live in a R9 world?  (I bet I'm not the only
person interested in this...)
*) should I just give up and use the R9 distribution?
*) is this a fool's errand?

Thanks for your guidance
-- 
Clint