Index: Python/pythonrun.c
===================================================================
--- Python/pythonrun.c	(revision 58695)
+++ Python/pythonrun.c	(working copy)
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
 {
 	PyInterpreterState *interp;
 	PyThreadState *tstate;
-	PyObject *bimod, *sysmod;
+	PyObject *bimod, *sysmod, *stderr;
 	char *p;
 #if defined(HAVE_LANGINFO_H) && defined(CODESET)
 	char *codeset;
@@ -228,6 +228,13 @@
 	PyDict_SetItemString(interp->sysdict, "modules",
 			     interp->modules);
 
+	/* set up a dump stderr printer until we have enough infrastructure
+           for the io module in place */
+	stderr = _PyStderrPrinter_New();
+	if (stderr == NULL)
+		Py_FatalError("Py_Initialize: can't set preliminary stderr");
+	PySys_SetObject("stderr", stderr);
+
 	_PyImport_Init();
 
 	/* initialize builtin exceptions */
@@ -736,6 +743,9 @@
 	PySys_SetObject("stdout", std);
 	Py_DECREF(std);
 
+	/* Remove old stderr printer */
+	PySys_SetObject("stderr", NULL);
+
 	/* Set sys.stderr */
 	if (!(std = PyFile_FromFd(fileno(stderr), "<stderr>", "w", -1,
 				      NULL, "\n"))) {
Index: Include/fileobject.h
===================================================================
--- Include/fileobject.h	(revision 58695)
+++ Include/fileobject.h	(working copy)
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@
 
 #define PY_STDIOTEXTMODE "b"
 
+typedef struct {
+	PyObject_HEAD
+} _PyStderrPrinter_Object;
+
+PyAPI_DATA(PyTypeObject) _PyStderrPrinter_Type;
+PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyStderrPrinter_New(void);
+
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyFile_FromFd(int, char *, char *, int, char *, char *);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyFile_GetLine(PyObject *, int);
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) PyFile_WriteObject(PyObject *, PyObject *, int);
Index: Objects/object.c
===================================================================
--- Objects/object.c	(revision 58695)
+++ Objects/object.c	(working copy)
@@ -1595,6 +1595,9 @@
 
 	if (PyType_Ready(&PyCode_Type) < 0)
 		Py_FatalError("Can't initialize 'code'");
+
+	if (PyType_Ready(&_PyStderrPrinter_Type) < 0)
+		Py_FatalError("Can't initialize StderrPrinter");
 }
 
 
Index: Objects/fileobject.c
===================================================================
--- Objects/fileobject.c	(revision 58695)
+++ Objects/fileobject.c	(working copy)
@@ -325,6 +325,92 @@
 	return buf;
 }
 
+/* ************************* stderr printer ******************************** */
+
+PyObject *
+_PyStderrPrinter_New(void)
+{
+	PyObject *self;
+	self = (PyObject*)PyObject_New(_PyStderrPrinter_Object,
+				       &_PyStderrPrinter_Type);
+	return self;
+}
+
+PyDoc_STRVAR(stderrprinter_write_doc,
+"write to stderr");
+
+PyObject *
+stderrprinter_write(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+	PyObject *d;
+	char *c = NULL;
+
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O:write", &d))
+		return NULL;
+
+	if (PyBytes_Check(d)) {
+		c = PyBytes_AS_STRING(d);
+	}
+	else if (PyString_Check(d)) {
+		c = PyString_AS_STRING(d);
+	} else if (PyUnicode_Check(d)) {
+		c = PyUnicode_AsString(d);
+        } else {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "invalid type");
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	if (c == NULL) {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "no string");
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	fprintf(stderr, "%s", c);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
+	Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+
+static PyMethodDef stderrprinter_methods[] = {
+	{"write", (PyCFunction)stderrprinter_write, METH_VARARGS,
+	 stderrprinter_write_doc},
+ 	{NULL,		NULL}		/* sentinel */
+};
+
+PyTypeObject _PyStderrPrinter_Type = {
+	PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
+	"stderrprinter",			/* tp_name */
+	0,					/* tp_basicsize */
+	0,					/* tp_itemsize */
+	/* methods */
+	0,					/* tp_dealloc */
+	0,					/* tp_print */
+	0,					/* tp_getattr */
+	0,					/* tp_setattr */
+	0,					/* tp_compare */
+	0,					/* tp_repr */
+	0,					/* tp_as_number */
+	0,					/* tp_as_sequence */
+	0,					/* tp_as_mapping */
+	0,					/* tp_hash */
+	0,					/* tp_call */
+	0,					/* tp_str */
+	PyObject_GenericGetAttr,		/* tp_getattro */
+	0,					/* tp_setattro */
+	0,					/* tp_as_buffer */
+	Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT | Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC,/* tp_flags */
+	0,					/* tp_doc */
+	0,					/* tp_traverse */
+	0,					/* tp_clear */
+	0,					/* tp_richcompare */
+	0,					/* tp_weaklistoffset */
+	0,					/* tp_iter */
+	0,					/* tp_iternext */
+	stderrprinter_methods,			/* tp_methods */
+	0,
+};
+
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif