diff -r -u rev56308/Doc/lib/libzipfile.tex new/Doc/lib/libzipfile.tex
--- rev56308/Doc/lib/libzipfile.tex	Wed Aug 15 23:08:03 2007
+++ new/Doc/lib/libzipfile.tex	Wed Aug 15 23:20:43 2007
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@
 
 \begin{methoddesc}{open}{name\optional{, mode\optional{, pwd}}}
     Extract a member from the archive as a file-like object (ZipExtFile).
-    \var{name} is the name of the file in the archive. The \var{mode}
+    \var{name} is the name of the file in the archive, or a ZipInfo object.
+	The \var{mode}
     parameter, if included, must be one of the following: \code{'r'} (the 
     default), \code{'U'}, or \code{'rU'}. Choosing \code{'U'} or 
     \code{'rU'} will enable universal newline support in the read-only
@@ -182,7 +183,8 @@
 \end{methoddesc}
 
 \begin{methoddesc}{read}{name\optional{, pwd}}
-  Return the bytes of the file in the archive.  The archive must be
+  Return the bytes of the file or ZipInfo object \var{name} in the archive.
+  The archive must be
   open for read or append. \var{pwd} is the password used for encrypted 
   files and, if specified, it will override the default password set with
   \method{setpassword()}.  Calling \method{read()} on a closed ZipFile 
diff -r -u rev56308/Lib/zipfile.py new/Lib/zipfile.py
--- rev56308/Lib/zipfile.py	Wed Aug 15 22:31:52 2007
+++ new/Lib/zipfile.py	Wed Aug 15 23:05:33 2007
@@ -754,9 +754,15 @@
         else:
             zef_file = open(self.filename, 'rb')
 
-        # Get info object for name
-        zinfo = self.getinfo(name)
+        # Get info object
+        if isinstance(name, ZipInfo):
+            # 'name' is the info object
+            zinfo = name
+        else:
+            # Get info object for name
+            zinfo = self.getinfo(name)
 
+        # XXX Why is `filepos` computed next?  It's never referenced.
         filepos = zef_file.tell()
 
         zef_file.seek(zinfo.header_offset, 0)