Index: Demo/tkinter/guido/kill.py
===================================================================
--- Demo/tkinter/guido/kill.py	(revision 63551)
+++ Demo/tkinter/guido/kill.py	(working copy)
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from Tkinter import *
 from string import splitfields
 from string import split
-import commands
+import subprocess
 import os
 
 class BarButton(Menubutton):
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
         self.do_update()
     def do_update(self):
         name, option, column = self.format_list[self.format.get()]
-        s = commands.getoutput('ps -w ' + option)
+        s = subprocess.getoutput('ps -w ' + option)
         list = splitfields(s, '\n')
         self.header.set(list[0])
         del list[0]
Index: Demo/tkinter/guido/svkill.py
===================================================================
--- Demo/tkinter/guido/svkill.py	(revision 63551)
+++ Demo/tkinter/guido/svkill.py	(working copy)
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 from string import splitfields
 from string import split
-import commands
+import subprocess
 import os
 
 user = os.environ['LOGNAME']
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     def do_update(self):
         format = self.format_list[self.format.get()][1]
         view = self.view_list[self.view.get()][1]
-        s = commands.getoutput('ps %s %s' % (view, format))
+        s = subprocess.getoutput('ps %s %s' % (view, format))
         list = splitfields(s, '\n')
         self.header.set(list[0] + '          ')
         del list[0]
Index: Misc/NEWS
===================================================================
--- Misc/NEWS	(revision 63551)
+++ Misc/NEWS	(working copy)
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- The commands module has been removed. Its methods have been moved in
+  the subprocess module.
+
 - The repr module has been renamed to reprlib.
 
 - The statvfs module has been removed.
Index: Misc/cheatsheet
===================================================================
--- Misc/cheatsheet	(revision 63551)
+++ Misc/cheatsheet	(working copy)
@@ -1816,7 +1816,6 @@
 code             Utilities needed to emulate Python's interactive interpreter
 codecs           Lookup existing Unicode encodings and register new ones.
 colorsys         Conversion functions between RGB and other color systems.
-commands         Tools for executing UNIX commands .
 compileall       Force "compilation" of all .py files in a directory.
 ConfigParser     Configuration file parser (much like windows .ini files)
 copy             Generic shallow and deep copying operations.
Index: Doc/library/subprocess.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/subprocess.rst	(revision 63551)
+++ Doc/library/subprocess.rst	(working copy)
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 
    os.system
    os.spawn*
-   commands.*
 
 Information about how the :mod:`subprocess` module can be used to replace these
 modules and functions can be found in the following sections.
@@ -113,7 +112,7 @@
 Convenience Functions
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-This module also defines two shortcut functions:
+This module also defines four shortcut functions:
 
 
 .. function:: call(*popenargs, **kwargs)
@@ -138,6 +137,35 @@
       check_call(["ls", "-l"])
 
 
+.. function:: getstatusoutput(cmd)
+   Return ``(status, output)`` of executing *cmd* in a shell.
+
+   Execute the string *cmd* in a shell with :func:`os.popen` and return a 2-tuple
+   ``(status, output)``.  *cmd* is actually run as ``{ cmd ; } 2>&1``, so that the
+   returned output will contain output or error messages.  A trailing newline is
+   stripped from the output.  The exit status for the command can be interpreted
+   according to the rules for the C function :cfunc:`wait`.  Example::
+
+      >>> import subprocess
+      >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('ls /bin/ls')
+      (0, '/bin/ls')
+      >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('cat /bin/junk')
+      (256, 'cat: /bin/junk: No such file or directory')
+      >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('/bin/junk')
+      (256, 'sh: /bin/junk: not found')
+
+
+.. function:: getoutput(cmd)
+   Return output ``(stdout or stderr)`` of executing *cmd* in a shell.
+
+   Like :func:`getstatusoutput`, except the exit status is ignored and the return
+   value is a string containing the command's output.  Example::
+
+      >>> import subprocess
+      >>> subprocess.getoutput('ls /bin/ls')
+      '/bin/ls'
+
+
 Exceptions
 ^^^^^^^^^^
 
Index: Doc/library/unix.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/unix.rst	(revision 63551)
+++ Doc/library/unix.rst	(working copy)
@@ -25,4 +25,3 @@
    resource.rst
    nis.rst
    syslog.rst
-   commands.rst
Index: Lib/test/regrtest.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/regrtest.py	(revision 63551)
+++ Lib/test/regrtest.py	(working copy)
@@ -868,7 +868,6 @@
         """
         test__locale
         test_bsddb3
-        test_commands
         test_crypt
         test_curses
         test_dbm
@@ -910,7 +909,6 @@
         test_bsddb
         test_bsddb3
         test_bz2
-        test_commands
         test_crypt
         test_curses
         test_dbm
@@ -1060,7 +1058,6 @@
         """
         test_audioop
         test_bsddb3
-        test_commands
         test_curses
         test_dl
         test_epoll
Index: Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_subprocess.py	(revision 63551)
+++ Lib/test/test_subprocess.py	(working copy)
@@ -702,10 +702,36 @@
             p.terminate()
             self.assertNotEqual(p.wait(), 0)
 
+class CommandTests(unittest.TestCase):
+# The module says:
+#   "NB This only works (and is only relevant) for UNIX."
+#
+# Actually, getoutput should work on any platform with an os.popen, but
+# I'll take the comment as given, and skip this suite.
+    if os.name == 'posix':
+
+        def test_getoutput(self):
+            self.assertEquals(subprocess.getoutput('echo xyzzy'), 'xyzzy')
+            self.assertEquals(subprocess.getstatusoutput('echo xyzzy'),
+                              (0, 'xyzzy'))
+
+            # we use mkdtemp in the next line to create an empty directory
+            # under our exclusive control; from that, we can invent a pathname
+            # that we _know_ won't exist.  This is guaranteed to fail.
+            dir = None
+            try:
+                dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+                name = os.path.join(dir, "foo")
+
+                status, output = subprocess.getstatusoutput('cat ' + name)
+                self.assertNotEquals(status, 0)
+            finally:
+                if dir is not None:
+                    os.rmdir(dir)
+
 def test_main():
-    support.run_unittest(ProcessTestCase)
-    if hasattr(support, "reap_children"):
-        support.reap_children()
+    support.run_unittest(ProcessTestCase, CommandTests)
+    support.reap_children()
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()  # XXX test_main()
Index: Lib/test/test___all__.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test___all__.py	(revision 63551)
+++ Lib/test/test___all__.py	(working copy)
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@
         self.check_all("codecs")
         self.check_all("codeop")
         self.check_all("colorsys")
-        self.check_all("commands")
         self.check_all("compileall")
         self.check_all("copy")
         self.check_all("copyreg")
Index: Lib/subprocess.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/subprocess.py	(revision 63551)
+++ Lib/subprocess.py	(working copy)
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 
 os.system
 os.spawn*
-commands.*
 
 Information about how the subprocess module can be used to replace these
 modules and functions can be found below.
@@ -105,7 +104,7 @@
 (Windows only)
 
 
-This module also defines two shortcut functions:
+This module also defines four shortcut functions:
 
 call(*popenargs, **kwargs):
     Run command with arguments.  Wait for command to complete, then
@@ -125,6 +124,34 @@
 
     check_call(["ls", "-l"])
 
+getstatusoutput(cmd):
+    Return (status, output) of executing cmd in a shell.
+
+    Execute the string 'cmd' in a shell with os.popen() and return a 2-tuple
+    (status, output).  cmd is actually run as '{ cmd ; } 2>&1', so that the
+    returned output will contain output or error messages. A trailing newline
+    is stripped from the output. The exit status for the command can be
+    interpreted according to the rules for the C function wait().  Example:
+
+    >>> import subprocess
+    >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('ls /bin/ls')
+    (0, '/bin/ls')
+    >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('cat /bin/junk')
+    (256, 'cat: /bin/junk: No such file or directory')
+    >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('/bin/junk')
+    (256, 'sh: /bin/junk: not found')
+
+getoutput(cmd):
+    Return output (stdout or stderr) of executing cmd in a shell.
+
+    Like getstatusoutput(), except the exit status is ignored and the return
+    value is a string containing the command's output.  Example:
+
+    >>> import subprocess
+    >>> subprocess.getoutput('ls /bin/ls')
+    '/bin/ls'
+
+
 Exceptions
 ----------
 Exceptions raised in the child process, before the new program has
@@ -336,7 +363,8 @@
     import fcntl
     import pickle
 
-__all__ = ["Popen", "PIPE", "STDOUT", "call", "check_call", "CalledProcessError"]
+__all__ = ["Popen", "PIPE", "STDOUT", "call", "check_call", "getstatusoutput",
+           "getoutput", "CalledProcessError"]
 
 try:
     MAXFD = os.sysconf("SC_OPEN_MAX")
@@ -458,6 +486,76 @@
     return ''.join(result)
 
 
+# Various tools for executing commands and looking at their output and status.
+#
+# NB This only works (and is only relevant) for UNIX.
+
+def getstatusoutput(cmd):
+    """Return (status, output) of executing cmd in a shell.
+
+    Execute the string 'cmd' in a shell with os.popen() and return a 2-tuple
+    (status, output).  cmd is actually run as '{ cmd ; } 2>&1', so that the
+    returned output will contain output or error messages.  A trailing newline
+    is stripped from the output.  The exit status for the command can be
+    interpreted according to the rules for the C function wait().  Example:
+
+    >>> import subprocess
+    >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('ls /bin/ls')
+    (0, '/bin/ls')
+    >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('cat /bin/junk')
+    (256, 'cat: /bin/junk: No such file or directory')
+    >>> subprocess.getstatusoutput('/bin/junk')
+    (256, 'sh: /bin/junk: not found')
+    """
+    pipe = os.popen('{ ' + cmd + '; } 2>&1', 'r')
+    text = pipe.read()
+    sts = pipe.close()
+    if sts is None: sts = 0
+    if text[-1:] == '\n': text = text[:-1]
+    return sts, text
+
+
+def getoutput(cmd):
+    """Return output (stdout or stderr) of executing cmd in a shell.
+
+    Like getstatusoutput(), except the exit status is ignored and the return
+    value is a string containing the command's output.  Example:
+
+    >>> import subprocess
+    >>> subprocess.getoutput('ls /bin/ls')
+    '/bin/ls'
+    """
+    return getstatusoutput(cmd)[1]
+
+
+def mk2arg(head, x):
+    """
+    Make command argument from directory and pathname (prefix space, add
+    quotes).
+    """
+    return mkarg(os.path.join(head, x))
+
+
+def mkarg(x):
+    """
+    Make a shell command argument from a string.
+
+    Return a string beginning with a space followed by a shell-quoted version
+    of the argument. Two strategies: enclose in single quotes if it contains
+    none; otherwise, enclose in double quotes and prefix quotable characters
+    with backslash.
+    """
+    if '\'' not in x:
+        return ' \'' + x + '\''
+    s = ' "'
+    for c in x:
+        if c in '\\$"`':
+            s = s + '\\'
+        s = s + c
+    s = s + '"'
+    return s
+
+
 class Popen(object):
     def __init__(self, args, bufsize=0, executable=None,
                  stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None,