Index: Doc/library/threading.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/threading.rst	(revision 84913)
+++ Doc/library/threading.rst	(working copy)
@@ -574,8 +574,14 @@
       interface is then used to restore the recursion level when the lock is
       reacquired.
 
-   .. method:: notify()
+      The return value is ``True`` unless a given *timeout* expired, in which
+      case it is ``False``.
 
+      .. versionchanged:: 3.2
+         Previously, the method always returned ``None``.
+
+   ..method:: notify()
+
       Wake up a thread waiting on this condition, if any.  If the calling thread
       has not acquired the lock when this method is called, a
       :exc:`RuntimeError` is raised.
Index: Lib/test/lock_tests.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/lock_tests.py	(revision 84913)
+++ Lib/test/lock_tests.py	(working copy)
@@ -375,13 +375,13 @@
         phase_num = 0
         def f():
             cond.acquire()
-            cond.wait()
+            result = cond.wait()
             cond.release()
-            results1.append(phase_num)
+            results1.append((result, phase_num))
             cond.acquire()
-            cond.wait()
+            result = cond.wait()
             cond.release()
-            results2.append(phase_num)
+            results2.append((result, phase_num))
         b = Bunch(f, N)
         b.wait_for_started()
         _wait()
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@
         cond.release()
         while len(results1) < 3:
             _wait()
-        self.assertEqual(results1, [1] * 3)
+        self.assertEqual(results1, [(True, 1)] * 3)
         self.assertEqual(results2, [])
         # Notify 5 threads: they might be in their first or second wait
         cond.acquire()
@@ -404,8 +404,8 @@
         cond.release()
         while len(results1) + len(results2) < 8:
             _wait()
-        self.assertEqual(results1, [1] * 3 + [2] * 2)
-        self.assertEqual(results2, [2] * 3)
+        self.assertEqual(results1, [(True, 1)] * 3 + [(True, 2)] * 2)
+        self.assertEqual(results2, [(True, 2)] * 3)
         # Notify all threads: they are all in their second wait
         cond.acquire()
         cond.notify_all()
@@ -414,8 +414,8 @@
         cond.release()
         while len(results2) < 5:
             _wait()
-        self.assertEqual(results1, [1] * 3 + [2] * 2)
-        self.assertEqual(results2, [2] * 3 + [3] * 2)
+        self.assertEqual(results1, [(True, 1)] * 3 + [(True,2)] * 2)
+        self.assertEqual(results2, [(True, 2)] * 3 + [(True, 3)] * 2)
         b.wait_for_finished()
 
     def test_notify(self):
@@ -431,14 +431,20 @@
         def f():
             cond.acquire()
             t1 = time.time()
-            cond.wait(0.5)
+            result = cond.wait(0.5)
             t2 = time.time()
             cond.release()
-            results.append(t2 - t1)
+            results.append((t2 - t1, result))
         Bunch(f, N).wait_for_finished()
-        self.assertEqual(len(results), 5)
-        for dt in results:
+        self.assertEqual(len(results), N)
+        for dt, result in results:
             self.assertTimeout(dt, 0.5)
+            # Note that conceptually (that"s the condition variable protocol)
+            # a wait() may succeed even if no one notifies us and before any
+            # timeout occurs.  Spurious wakeups can occur.
+            # This makes it hard to verify the result value.
+            # In practice, this implementation has no spurious wakeups.
+            self.assertFalse(result)
 
 
 class BaseSemaphoreTests(BaseTestCase):
Index: Lib/threading.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/threading.py	(revision 84913)
+++ Lib/threading.py	(working copy)
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@
         try:    # restore state no matter what (e.g., KeyboardInterrupt)
             if timeout is None:
                 waiter.acquire()
+                gotit = True
                 if __debug__:
                     self._note("%s.wait(): got it", self)
             else:
@@ -249,6 +250,7 @@
                 else:
                     if __debug__:
                         self._note("%s.wait(%s): got it", self, timeout)
+            return gotit
         finally:
             self._acquire_restore(saved_state)