Index: Doc/library/nntplib.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/nntplib.rst	(revision 66054)
+++ Doc/library/nntplib.rst	(working copy)
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@
 Here are two small examples of how it can be used.  To list some statistics
 about a newsgroup and print the subjects of the last 10 articles::
 
-   >>> s = NNTP('news.cwi.nl')
+   >>> s = NNTP("free-text.usenetserver.com")
    >>> resp, count, first, last, name = s.group('comp.lang.python')
    >>> print('Group', name, 'has', count, 'articles, range', first, 'to', last)
    Group comp.lang.python has 59 articles, range 3742 to 3803
-   >>> resp, subs = s.xhdr('subject', first + '-' + last)
-   >>> for id, sub in subs[-10:]: print(id, sub)
+   >>> resp, subs = s.xhdr('subject', first + '-' + str(int(first) + 10))
+   >>> for id, sub in subs: print(id, sub)
    ... 
    3792 Re: Removing elements from a list while iterating...
    3793 Re: Who likes Info files?
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 The module itself defines the following items:
 
 
-.. class:: NNTP(host[, port [, user[, password [, readermode][, usenetrc]]]])
+.. class:: NNTP(host[, port [, user[, password [, readermode][, usenetrc][, encoding]]]])
 
    Return a new instance of the :class:`NNTP` class, representing a connection
    to the NNTP server running on host *host*, listening at port *port*.  The
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@
    if you are connecting to an NNTP server on the local machine and intend to
    call reader-specific commands, such as ``group``.  If you get unexpected
    :exc:`NNTPPermanentError`\ s, you might need to set *readermode*.
-   *readermode* defaults to ``None``. *usenetrc* defaults to ``True``.
+   *readermode* defaults to ``None``. *usenetrc* defaults to ``True``. Optional
+   *encoding* is the input/output encoding. The default *encoding* is "ascii".
 
 
 .. exception:: NNTPError
@@ -125,6 +126,11 @@
    that may be relevant to the user.)
 
 
+.. method:: NNTP.set_encoding(encoding)
+
+   Set the input/output encoding.
+
+
 .. method:: NNTP.set_debuglevel(level)
 
    Set the instance's debugging level.  This controls the amount of debugging
Index: Lib/nntplib.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/nntplib.py	(revision 66054)
+++ Lib/nntplib.py	(working copy)
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
 # The class itself
 class NNTP:
     def __init__(self, host, port=NNTP_PORT, user=None, password=None,
-                 readermode=None, usenetrc=True):
+                 readermode=None, usenetrc=True, encoding="ascii"):
         """Initialize an instance.  Arguments:
         - host: hostname to connect to
         - port: port to connect to (default the standard NNTP port)
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@
         self.sock.connect((self.host, self.port))
         self.file = self.sock.makefile('rb')
         self.debugging = 0
+        self.encoding = encoding
         self.welcome = self.getresp()
 
         # 'mode reader' is sometimes necessary to enable 'reader' mode.
@@ -163,6 +164,9 @@
                     # error 500, probably 'not implemented'
                     pass
 
+    def set_encoding(self, encoding):
+        """Set the input/output encoding."""
+        self.encoding = encoding
 
     # Get the welcome message from the server
     # (this is read and squirreled away by __init__()).
@@ -191,7 +195,7 @@
         """Internal: send one line to the server, appending CRLF."""
         line = line + CRLF
         if self.debugging > 1: print('*put*', repr(line))
-        self.sock.sendall(line)
+        self.sock.sendall(bytes(line, self.encoding))
 
     def putcmd(self, line):
         """Internal: send one command to the server (through putline())."""
@@ -201,7 +205,7 @@
     def getline(self):
         """Internal: return one line from the server, stripping CRLF.
         Raise EOFError if the connection is closed."""
-        line = self.file.readline()
+        line = str(self.file.readline(), self.encoding)
         if self.debugging > 1:
             print('*get*', repr(line))
         if not line: raise EOFError