diff -r a2d01ed713cb Doc/library/filecmp.rst
--- a/Doc/library/filecmp.rst	Sun Aug 03 15:27:18 2014 -0400
+++ b/Doc/library/filecmp.rst	Sun Aug 03 16:18:13 2014 -0700
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
    Compare the files named *f1* and *f2*, returning ``True`` if they seem equal,
    ``False`` otherwise.
 
-   If *shallow* is true, files with identical :func:`os.stat` signatures are
-   taken to be equal.  Otherwise, the contents of the files are compared.
+   If *shallow* is true, only the files' :func:`os.stat` signatures are
+   compared.  If *shallow* is false, the contents of the files are compared.
 
    Note that no external programs are called from this function, giving it
    portability and efficiency.
diff -r a2d01ed713cb Lib/filecmp.py
--- a/Lib/filecmp.py	Sun Aug 03 15:27:18 2014 -0400
+++ b/Lib/filecmp.py	Sun Aug 03 16:18:13 2014 -0700
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@
     s2 = _sig(os.stat(f2))
     if s1[0] != stat.S_IFREG or s2[0] != stat.S_IFREG:
         return False
-    if shallow and s1 == s2:
-        return True
+    if shallow:
+        return s1 == s2
     if s1[1] != s2[1]:
         return False