docs: def fmt_dict_vals(dict_vals, shorten=True):
      """Returns list of key=val pairs formatted
      for inclusion in an informative text string.
      """
      items = dict_vals.items()
      if not items:
          return [fmt_val(None, shorten=shorten)]
      return ["%s=%s" % (k, fmt_val(v, shorten=shorten)) for k,v in items]