diff -ru rev62920/Doc/library/zipfile.rst new/Doc/library/zipfile.rst
--- rev62920/Doc/library/zipfile.rst	Tue May 20 00:15:35 2008
+++ new/Doc/library/zipfile.rst	Tue May 20 00:40:22 2008
@@ -155,11 +155,11 @@
 .. method:: ZipFile.open(name[, mode[, pwd]])
 
    Extract a member from the archive as a file-like object (ZipExtFile). *name* is
-   the name of the file in the archive. The *mode* parameter, if included, must be
-   one of the following: ``'r'`` (the  default), ``'U'``, or ``'rU'``. Choosing
-   ``'U'`` or  ``'rU'`` will enable universal newline support in the read-only
-   object. *pwd* is the password used for encrypted files.  Calling  :meth:`open`
-   on a closed ZipFile will raise a  :exc:`RuntimeError`.
+   the name of the file in the archive, or a :class:`ZipInfo` object. The *mode*
+   parameter, if included, must be one of the following: ``'r'`` (the  default),
+   ``'U'``, or ``'rU'``. Choosing ``'U'`` or  ``'rU'`` will enable universal newline
+   support in the read-only object. *pwd* is the password used for encrypted files.
+   Calling  :meth:`open` on a closed ZipFile will raise a  :exc:`RuntimeError`.
 
    .. note::
 
@@ -178,6 +178,12 @@
       create a new file object that will be held by the ZipExtFile, allowing it to
       operate independently of the  ZipFile.
 
+   .. note::
+
+      The :meth:`open`, :meth:`read` and :meth:`extract` methods can take a filename
+      or a :class:`ZipInfo` object.  You will appreciate this when trying to read a
+      ZIP file that contains members with duplicate names.
+
    .. versionadded:: 2.6
 
 
@@ -216,9 +222,10 @@
 
 .. method:: ZipFile.read(name[, pwd])
 
-   Return the bytes of the file in the archive.  The archive must be open for read
-   or append. *pwd* is the password used for encrypted  files and, if specified, it
-   will override the default password set with :meth:`setpassword`.  Calling
+   Return the bytes of the file *name* in the archive.  *name* is the name of the
+   file in the archive, or a :class:`ZipInfo` object.  The archive must be open for
+   read or append. *pwd* is the password used for encrypted  files and, if specified,
+   it will override the default password set with :meth:`setpassword`.  Calling
    :meth:`read` on a closed ZipFile  will raise a :exc:`RuntimeError`.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.6
diff -ru rev62920/Lib/zipfile.py new/Lib/zipfile.py
--- rev62920/Lib/zipfile.py	Tue May 20 00:17:39 2008
+++ new/Lib/zipfile.py	Tue May 20 00:43:33 2008
@@ -776,10 +776,13 @@
         else:
             zef_file = open(self.filename, 'rb')
 
-        # Get info object for name
-        zinfo = self.getinfo(name)
-
-        filepos = zef_file.tell()
+        # Make sure we have an info object
+        if isinstance(name, ZipInfo):
+            # 'name' is already an info object
+            zinfo = name
+        else:
+            # Get info object for name
+            zinfo = self.getinfo(name)
 
         zef_file.seek(zinfo.header_offset, 0)
 
@@ -884,7 +887,7 @@
         if upperdirs and not os.path.exists(upperdirs):
             os.makedirs(upperdirs)
 
-        source = self.open(member.filename, pwd=pwd)
+        source = self.open(member, pwd=pwd)
         target = file(targetpath, "wb")
         shutil.copyfileobj(source, target)
         source.close()