PR #3645 has been merged into devel. The PR itself discusses all the details.
This PR refactors the code that reads all kinds of files. All my tests pass, but the possibility of new bugs exists.
Please report any problems immediately.
Edward
P. S. This PR deletes several publicly visible helpers of the LoadManager class. There is a slight possibility that existing scripts or plugins may be using those deleted helpers. Affected code should call g.openWithFileName instead of the helper.
EKR