 ;; called py-mode-hook, and was not defvar'd.  deprecate its use.
 (and (fboundp 'make-obsolete-variable)
      (make-obsolete-variable 'py-mode-hook 'python-mode-hook))
+
+(defvar py-delete-function 'backward-delete-char-untabify
+  "*Function called by `py-delete-char' when deleting characters.")
 
 (defvar py-mode-map ()
   "Keymap used in `python-mode' buffers.")

	  (py-continuation-line-p)
	  (not py-honor-comment-indentation)
	  (looking-at "#[^ \t\n]"))	; non-indenting #
      (backward-delete-char-untabify count)
    ;; else indent the same as the colon line that opened the block

    ;; force non-blank so py-goto-block-up doesn't ignore it

;; Functions for Python style indentation
(defun py-delete-char (count)
  "Reduce indentation or delete character.

If point is at the leftmost column, deletes the preceding newline.
Deletion is performed by calling the function in `py-delete-function'
with a single argument (the number of characters to delete).

Else if point is at the leftmost non-blank character of a line that is
neither a continuation line nor a non-indenting comment line, or if
