diff --git a/tools/github/pending-pulls.py b/tools/github/pending-pulls.py
index 92346ff92c..521643bb30 100755
--- a/tools/github/pending-pulls.py
+++ b/tools/github/pending-pulls.py
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 import pycurl
 import json
 from io import BytesIO
+from datetime import datetime
 
 #############################################################
 # settings:
-# github repository from pull requests are culled
+# github repository from which pull requests are culled
 base = 'akohlmey/lammps'
 # github userid of pull request assignee
 user = 'sjplimp'
@@ -15,33 +16,42 @@ upstream = 'integration'
 verbose = True
 #############################################################
 
+# set up a query to the github web API to return information about all
+# open pull requests for a given repository which are assigned to the
+# given userid and store the response in a buffer.
 buf = BytesIO()
 c = pycurl.Curl()
 c.setopt(c.URL,'https://api.github.com/repos/'+base+'/pulls?state=open,assignee='+user)
 c.setopt(c.WRITEFUNCTION,buf.write)
 c.perform()
 
+# github responds with a JSON format text listing all pull requests.
+# we convert the response into a dictionary with individual entries
+# being dictionaries as well. The JSON data is in UTF-8 encoding.
 result = json.loads(buf.getvalue().decode(encoding="utf-8"));
 
-print('\nPending pull requests for repository '+base+' assigned to '+user+'\n')
+print('\n %d pending pull requests for repository %s assigned to %s\n' % (len(result),base,user))
 
+# loop over entrees
 for pull in result:
-    if pull['assignee']:
-        num = pull['number']
-        print('Pending pull request #%d' % num)
-        print('Submitted by: %s' % pull['head']['repo']['owner']['login'])
-        print('Title: '+pull['title'])
-        print('URL: https://github.com/'+base+'/pull/'+str(num))
-        # get pull repository and branch
-        repo = pull['head']['repo']['clone_url']
-        branch = pull['head']['ref']
-        # instructions
-        print('\nCommand line instructions, step 1:\n')
-        print('git checkout -b merge-pull-%d %s' % (num,upstream))
-        print('git pull %s %s' % (repo, branch))
-        print('\nCommand line instructions, step 2:\n')
-        print('git checkout '+upstream)
-        print('git merge --no-ff merge-pull-%d' % num)
-        if verbose:
-          print('\nDescription:\n%s' % pull['body'])
+    # get pull request id and repo and branch info
+    num = pull['number']
+    repo = pull['head']['repo']['clone_url']
+    branch = pull['head']['ref']
+    # print some general info
+    print('Pending pull request #%d' % num)
+    print('Submitted by: %s' % pull['head']['user']['login'])
+    print('Last update: %s' % datetime.strptime(pull['updated_at'],'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ').ctime())
+    print('Title: '+pull['title'])
+    print('URL: https://github.com/'+base+'/pull/'+str(num))
+    # print command line suggestions
+    print('\nCommand line instructions, step 1:\n')
+    print('git checkout -b merge-pull-%d %s' % (num, upstream))
+    print('git pull %s %s' % (repo, branch))
+    print('\nCommand line instructions, step 2:\n')
+    print('git checkout '+upstream)
+    print('git merge --no-ff merge-pull-%d' % num)
+    # if requested, display pull request description
+    if verbose:
+        print('\nDescription:\n%s' % pull['body'])
         print('------------------\n')