Index: Lib/http/client.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/http/client.py	(revision 87228)
+++ Lib/http/client.py	(working copy)
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@
 
     def _read_status(self):
         # Initialize with Simple-Response defaults.
-        line = str(self.fp.readline(), "iso-8859-1")
+        line = str(self.fp.readline(256), "iso-8859-1")
         if self.debuglevel > 0:
             print("reply:", repr(line))
         if not line: