Index: Doc/library/time.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/time.rst	(revision 87690)
+++ Doc/library/time.rst	(working copy)
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@
 .. function:: asctime([t])
 
    Convert a tuple or :class:`struct_time` representing a time as returned by
-   :func:`gmtime` or :func:`localtime` to a 24-character string of the following
+   :func:`gmtime` or :func:`localtime` to a string of the following
    form: ``'Sun Jun 20 23:21:05 1993'``.  If *t* is not provided, the current time
    as returned by :func:`localtime` is used. Locale information is not used by
    :func:`asctime`.
Index: Lib/test/test_time.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_time.py	(revision 87690)
+++ Lib/test/test_time.py	(working copy)
@@ -123,32 +123,20 @@
         time.asctime(time.gmtime(self.t))
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, time.asctime, 0)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, time.asctime, ())
-        # XXX: POSIX-compliant asctime should refuse to convert year > 9999,
-        # but glibc implementation does not.  For now, just check it doesn't
-        # segfault as it did before, and the result contains no newline.
-        try:
-            result = time.asctime((12345, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0))
-        except ValueError:
-            # for POSIX-compliant runtimes
-            pass
-        else:
-            self.assertNotIn('\n', result)
+        bigyear = 1234567890
+        self.assertEqual(time.asctime((bigyear, 6, 1) + (0,)*6)[-10:],
+                         str(bigyear))
 
     def test_asctime_bounding_check(self):
         self._bounds_checking(time.asctime)
 
     def test_ctime(self):
-        # XXX: POSIX-compliant ctime should refuse to convert year > 9999,
-        # but glibc implementation does not.  For now, just check it doesn't
-        # segfault as it did before, and the result contains no newline.
         try:
-            result = time.ctime(1e12)
+            bigval = time.mktime((10000, 1, 10) + (0,)*6)
         except ValueError:
-            # for POSIX-compliant runtimes (or 32-bit systems, where time_t
-            # cannot hold timestamps with a five-digit year)
             pass
         else:
-            self.assertNotIn('\n', result)
+            self.assertEquals(time.ctime(bigval)[-5:], '10000')
 
     @unittest.skipIf(not hasattr(time, "tzset"),
         "time module has no attribute tzset")
Index: Modules/timemodule.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/timemodule.c	(revision 87690)
+++ Modules/timemodule.c	(working copy)
@@ -599,19 +599,42 @@
     return strptime_result;
 }
 
+
 PyDoc_STRVAR(strptime_doc,
 "strptime(string, format) -> struct_time\n\
 \n\
 Parse a string to a time tuple according to a format specification.\n\
 See the library reference manual for formatting codes (same as strftime()).");
 
+static PyObject *
+_asctime(struct tm *timeptr)
+{
+    /* Inspired by Open Group reference implementation available at
+     * http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/asctime.html */
+    char buf[20]; /* 'Sun Sep 16 01:03:52\0' */
+    static char wday_name[7][3] = {
+        "Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat"
+    };
+    static char mon_name[12][3] = {
+        "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun",
+        "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"
+    };
 
+    sprintf(buf, "%.3s %.3s%3d %.2d:%.2d:%.2d",
+            wday_name[timeptr->tm_wday],
+            mon_name[timeptr->tm_mon],
+            timeptr->tm_mday, timeptr->tm_hour,
+            timeptr->tm_min, timeptr->tm_sec);
+
+    return PyUnicode_FromFormat("%s %d", buf, 1900 + timeptr->tm_year);
+}
+
 static PyObject *
 time_asctime(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 {
     PyObject *tup = NULL;
     struct tm buf;
-    char *p, *q;
+
     if (!PyArg_UnpackTuple(args, "asctime", 0, 1, &tup))
         return NULL;
     if (tup == NULL) {
@@ -619,17 +642,7 @@
         buf = *localtime(&tt);
     } else if (!gettmarg(tup, &buf) || !checktm(&buf))
         return NULL;
-    p = asctime(&buf);
-    if (p == NULL) {
-        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "unconvertible time");
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    /* Replace a terminating newline by a null byte, normally at position 24.
-     * It can occur later if the year has more than four digits. */
-    for (q = p+24; *q != '\0'; q++)
-        if (*q == '\n')
-            *q = '\0';
-    return PyUnicode_FromString(p);
+    return _asctime(&buf);
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(asctime_doc,
@@ -644,7 +657,7 @@
 {
     PyObject *ot = NULL;
     time_t tt;
-    char *p, *q;
+    struct tm *timeptr;
 
     if (!PyArg_UnpackTuple(args, "ctime", 0, 1, &ot))
         return NULL;
@@ -658,17 +671,12 @@
         if (tt == (time_t)-1 && PyErr_Occurred())
             return NULL;
     }
-    p = ctime(&tt);
-    if (p == NULL) {
+    timeptr = localtime(&tt);
+    if (timeptr == NULL) {
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "unconvertible time");
-        return NULL;
+        return NULL;        
     }
-    /* Replace a terminating newline by a null byte, normally at position 24.
-     * It can occur later if the year has more than four digits. */
-    for (q = p+24; *q != '\0'; q++)
-        if (*q == '\n')
-            *q = '\0';
-    return PyUnicode_FromString(p);
+    return _asctime(timeptr);
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(ctime_doc,