Index: Lib/unittest/test/test_program.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/unittest/test/test_program.py	(revision 86736)
+++ Lib/unittest/test/test_program.py	(working copy)
@@ -189,12 +189,14 @@
         program.verbosity = 'verbosity'
         program.failfast = 'failfast'
         program.buffer = 'buffer'
+        program.warnings = 'warnings'
 
         program.runTests()
 
         self.assertEqual(FakeRunner.initArgs, {'verbosity': 'verbosity',
                                                 'failfast': 'failfast',
-                                                'buffer': 'buffer'})
+                                                'buffer': 'buffer',
+                                                'warnings': 'warnings'})
         self.assertEqual(FakeRunner.test, 'test')
         self.assertIs(program.result, RESULT)
 
Index: Lib/unittest/test/test_break.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/unittest/test/test_break.py	(revision 86736)
+++ Lib/unittest/test/test_break.py	(working copy)
@@ -209,7 +209,8 @@
 
         self.assertEqual(FakeRunner.initArgs, [((), {'buffer': None,
                                                      'verbosity': verbosity,
-                                                     'failfast': failfast})])
+                                                     'failfast': failfast,
+                                                     'warnings': None})])
         self.assertEqual(FakeRunner.runArgs, [test])
         self.assertEqual(p.result, result)
 
@@ -222,7 +223,8 @@
 
         self.assertEqual(FakeRunner.initArgs, [((), {'buffer': None,
                                                      'verbosity': verbosity,
-                                                     'failfast': failfast})])
+                                                     'failfast': failfast,
+                                                     'warnings': None})])
         self.assertEqual(FakeRunner.runArgs, [test])
         self.assertEqual(p.result, result)
 
Index: Lib/unittest/runner.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/unittest/runner.py	(revision 86736)
+++ Lib/unittest/runner.py	(working copy)
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import sys
 import time
+import warnings
 
 from . import result
 from .signals import registerResult
@@ -125,12 +126,13 @@
     resultclass = TextTestResult
 
     def __init__(self, stream=sys.stderr, descriptions=True, verbosity=1,
-                 failfast=False, buffer=False, resultclass=None):
+                 failfast=False, buffer=False, resultclass=None, warnings=None):
         self.stream = _WritelnDecorator(stream)
         self.descriptions = descriptions
         self.verbosity = verbosity
         self.failfast = failfast
         self.buffer = buffer
+        self.warnings = warnings
         if resultclass is not None:
             self.resultclass = resultclass
 
@@ -143,17 +145,27 @@
         registerResult(result)
         result.failfast = self.failfast
         result.buffer = self.buffer
-        startTime = time.time()
-        startTestRun = getattr(result, 'startTestRun', None)
-        if startTestRun is not None:
-            startTestRun()
-        try:
-            test(result)
-        finally:
-            stopTestRun = getattr(result, 'stopTestRun', None)
-            if stopTestRun is not None:
-                stopTestRun()
-        stopTime = time.time()
+        with warnings.catch_warnings():
+            if self.warnings:
+                # if self.warnings is set, use it to filter the warnings
+                warnings.simplefilter(self.warnings)
+                # since tests might contain many deprecated unittest methods
+                # (e.g. assertEquals, assert_) show these warnings only once
+                # per module. This can be overriden only using the -W flags
+                # and leaving self.warnings to None.
+                warnings.filterwarnings('module', category=DeprecationWarning,
+                    message='Please use assert\w+ instead.')
+            startTime = time.time()
+            startTestRun = getattr(result, 'startTestRun', None)
+            if startTestRun is not None:
+                startTestRun()
+            try:
+                test(result)
+            finally:
+                stopTestRun = getattr(result, 'stopTestRun', None)
+                if stopTestRun is not None:
+                    stopTestRun()
+            stopTime = time.time()
         timeTaken = stopTime - startTime
         result.printErrors()
         if hasattr(result, 'separator2'):
Index: Lib/unittest/main.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/unittest/main.py	(revision 86736)
+++ Lib/unittest/main.py	(working copy)
@@ -67,12 +67,12 @@
     USAGE = USAGE_FROM_MODULE
 
     # defaults for testing
-    failfast = catchbreak = buffer = progName = None
+    failfast = catchbreak = buffer = progName = warnings = None
 
     def __init__(self, module='__main__', defaultTest=None, argv=None,
                     testRunner=None, testLoader=loader.defaultTestLoader,
                     exit=True, verbosity=1, failfast=None, catchbreak=None,
-                    buffer=None):
+                    buffer=None, warnings=None):
         if isinstance(module, str):
             self.module = __import__(module)
             for part in module.split('.')[1:]:
@@ -87,6 +87,18 @@
         self.catchbreak = catchbreak
         self.verbosity = verbosity
         self.buffer = buffer
+        if warnings is None and not sys.warnoptions:
+            # even if DreprecationWarnings are ignored by default
+            # print them anyway unless other warnings settings are
+            # specified by the warnings arg or the -W python flag
+            self.warnings = 'default'
+        else:
+            # here self.warnings is set either to the value passed
+            # to the warnings args or to None.
+            # If the user didn't pass a value self.warnings will
+            # be None. This means that the behavior is unchanged
+            # and depends on the values passed to -W.
+            self.warnings = warnings
         self.defaultTest = defaultTest
         self.testRunner = testRunner
         self.testLoader = testLoader
@@ -220,7 +232,8 @@
             try:
                 testRunner = self.testRunner(verbosity=self.verbosity,
                                              failfast=self.failfast,
-                                             buffer=self.buffer)
+                                             buffer=self.buffer,
+                                             warnings=self.warnings)
             except TypeError:
                 # didn't accept the verbosity, buffer or failfast arguments
                 testRunner = self.testRunner()