diff --git a/tools/gh_api.py b/tools/gh_api.py
index 828592b..1f2dd2b 100644
--- a/tools/gh_api.py
+++ b/tools/gh_api.py
@@ -73,10 +73,14 @@ def post_gist(content, description='', filename='file', auth=False):
     response_data = json.loads(response.text)
     return response_data['html_url']
     
-def get_pull_request(project, num, httpv2=False):
-    if httpv2 :
+def get_pull_request(project, num, github_api=3):
+    """get pull request info  by number
+
+    github_api : version of github api to use
+    """
+    if github_api==2 :
         url = "http://github.com/api/v2/json/pulls/{project}/{num}".format(project=project, num=num)
-    else:
+    elif github_api == 3:
         url = "https://api.github.com/repos/{project}/pulls/{num}".format(project=project, num=num)
     response = requests.get(url)
     response.raise_for_status()
@@ -84,8 +88,12 @@ def get_pull_request(project, num, httpv2=False):
         return json.loads(response.text)['pull']
     return json.loads(response.text)
 
-def get_pulls_list(project,httpv2=False):
-    if not httpv2 :
+def get_pulls_list(project, github_api=3):
+    """get pull request list
+
+    github_api : version of github api to use
+    """
+    if github_api == 3 :
         url = "https://api.github.com/repos/{project}/pulls".format(project=project)
     else :
         url = "http://github.com/api/v2/json/pulls/{project}".format(project=project)
diff --git a/tools/git-mpr.py b/tools/git-mpr.py
index 9e0ca32..e9c0d04 100755
--- a/tools/git-mpr.py
+++ b/tools/git-mpr.py
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
 Usage:
-    python test_pr.py 1657
+    python git-mpr.py -m 1657
 """
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import re
 import requests
+import argparse
 from subprocess import call, check_call, check_output, CalledProcessError
 import sys
 
@@ -17,7 +18,14 @@ ipy_repository = 'git://github.com/ipython/ipython.git'
 gh_project="ipython/ipython"
 not_merged={}
 
-def get_branch(repo, branch, owner, mergeable):
+
+def merge_branch(repo, branch, owner, mergeable):
+    """try to merge the givent branch into the current one
+    
+    If something does not goes smoothly, merge is aborted
+    
+    Returns True if merge sucessfull, False otherwise
+    """
     merged_branch = "%s-%s" % (owner, branch)
     # Delete the branch first
     try :
@@ -27,36 +35,40 @@ def get_branch(repo, branch, owner, mergeable):
         return False
     return True
 
-def merge_pr(num,httpv2=False):
+
+def merge_pr(num,github_api=3):
+    """ try to merge the branch of PR `num` into current branch
+    
+    github_api : use github api v2 (to bypass https and issues with proxy) to find the
+             remote branch that should be merged by it's number
+    """
     # Get Github authorisation first, so that the user is prompted straight away
     # if their login is needed.
     
-    pr = gh_api.get_pull_request(gh_project, num, httpv2)
-    if(httpv2):
+    pr = gh_api.get_pull_request(gh_project, num, github_api)
+    if github_api == 2:
         repo = pr['head']['repository']['url']
-        owner=pr['head']['user']['name'],
-    else :
-        repo=pr['head']['repo']['clone_url']
-        owner=pr['head']['repo']['owner']['login'],
+        owner = pr['head']['user']['name']
+    elif github_api == 2 :
+        repo = pr['head']['repo']['clone_url']
+        owner = pr['head']['repo']['owner']['login']
 
-    branch=pr['head']['ref']
-    mergeable = get_branch(repo=repo, 
+    branch = pr['head']['ref']
+    mergeable = merge_branch(repo=repo, 
                  branch=branch,
                  owner=owner,
                  mergeable=pr['mergeable'],
               )
     if not mergeable :
         cmd = "git pull "+repo+" "+branch
-        not_merged[str(num)]=cmd
+        not_merged[str(num)] = cmd
         print("==============================================================================")
         print("Something went wrong merging this branch, you can try it manually by runngin :")
         print(cmd)
         print("==============================================================================")
         
     
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    import argparse
+def main(*args):
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
             description="""
                 Merge (one|many) github pull request by their number.\
@@ -65,7 +77,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
                 and continue to the next if any.
                 """
             )
-    parser.add_argument('-v2','--githubapiv2', action='store_const', const=True)
+    parser.add_argument('-v2','--githubapiv2', action='store_const', const=2)
 
     grp = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
     grp.add_argument(
@@ -87,11 +99,15 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
             metavar='pr-number')
     not_merged = {}; 
     args = parser.parse_args()
-    ghv2 = args.githubapiv2
+    if args.githubapiv2 == 2 :
+        github_api = 2
+    else  :
+        github_api = 3
+
     if(args.list):
-        pr_list = gh_api.get_pulls_list(gh_project, ghv2)
+        pr_list = gh_api.get_pulls_list(gh_project, github_api)
         for pr in pr_list :
-            mergeable = gh_api.get_pull_request(gh_project, pr['number'],httpv2=ghv2)['mergeable']
+            mergeable = gh_api.get_pull_request(gh_project, pr['number'],github_api=github_api)['mergeable']
 
             ismgb = u"√" if mergeable else " "
             print(u"* #{number} [{ismgb}]:  {title}".format(
@@ -107,7 +123,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     elif args.merge:
         for num in args.merge :
-            merge_pr(num,httpv2=ghv2)
+            merge_pr(num, github_api=github_api)
 
     if not_merged :
         print('*************************************************************************************')
@@ -115,3 +131,6 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         for num,cmd in not_merged.items() :
             print( "PR {num}: {cmd}".format(num=num,cmd=cmd))
         print('*************************************************************************************')
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()