diff -r 753955932f64 -r a24b02d77666 Doc/library/socket.rst
--- a/Doc/library/socket.rst	Sat Jan 08 04:35:36 2011 +0100
+++ b/Doc/library/socket.rst	Sat Jan 08 09:54:44 2011 +0200
@@ -521,6 +521,15 @@
    meanings.
 
 
+.. function:: sethostname(name)
+
+   Sets the machine's hostname to *name*.
+
+   Availability: Unix.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.3
+
+
 .. data:: SocketType
 
    This is a Python type object that represents the socket object type. It is the
diff -r 753955932f64 -r a24b02d77666 Lib/test/test_socket.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_socket.py	Sat Jan 08 04:35:36 2011 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socket.py	Sat Jan 08 09:54:44 2011 +0200
@@ -325,6 +325,19 @@
         if not fqhn in all_host_names:
             self.fail("Error testing host resolution mechanisms. (fqdn: %s, all: %s)" % (fqhn, repr(all_host_names)))
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(socket, 'sethostname'), "test needs socket.sethostname()")
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(socket, 'gethostname'), "test needs socket.gethostname()")
+    def test_sethostname(self):
+        oldhn = socket.gethostname()
+        try:
+            socket.sethostname('new')
+        except socket.error as e:
+            self.assertEqual(e.errno, errno.EPERM)
+        else:
+            # running test as root!
+            self.assertEqual(socket.gethostname(), 'new')
+            socket.sethostname(oldhn)
+
     def testRefCountGetNameInfo(self):
         # Testing reference count for getnameinfo
         if hasattr(sys, "getrefcount"):
diff -r 753955932f64 -r a24b02d77666 Modules/socketmodule.c
--- a/Modules/socketmodule.c	Sat Jan 08 04:35:36 2011 +0100
+++ b/Modules/socketmodule.c	Sat Jan 08 09:54:44 2011 +0200
@@ -3135,6 +3135,47 @@
 \n\
 Return the current host name.");
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SETHOSTNAME
+PyDoc_STRVAR(sethostname_doc,
+"sethostname(name)\n\n\
+Sets the hostname to name.");
+
+static PyObject *
+socket_sethostname(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+    PyObject *hnobj;
+    Py_buffer buf;
+    int res;
+
+    if (PyTuple_Size(args) != 1) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
+            "sethostname() takes exactly 1 argument");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    hnobj = PyTuple_GetItem(args, 0);
+    if (hnobj == NULL)
+        return NULL;
+    /* PyUnicode_FSConverter chokes on embedded NULs so don't use if we
+       already have a bytes object. */
+    if (PyBytes_Check(hnobj)) {
+        Py_INCREF(hnobj);
+    }
+    else {
+        if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O&:sethostname",
+                PyUnicode_FSConverter, &hnobj))
+            return NULL;
+    }
+    PyObject_GetBuffer(hnobj, &buf, PyBUF_SIMPLE);
+
+    res = sethostname(buf.buf, buf.len);
+
+    PyBuffer_Release(&buf);
+    Py_DECREF(hnobj);
+    if (res == -1)
+        return set_error();
+    Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+#endif
 
 /* Python interface to gethostbyname(name). */
 
@@ -4233,6 +4274,10 @@
      METH_VARARGS, gethostbyaddr_doc},
     {"gethostname",             socket_gethostname,
      METH_NOARGS,  gethostname_doc},
+#ifdef HAVE_SETHOSTNAME
+    {"sethostname",             socket_sethostname,
+     METH_VARARGS,  sethostname_doc},
+#endif
     {"getservbyname",           socket_getservbyname,
      METH_VARARGS, getservbyname_doc},
     {"getservbyport",           socket_getservbyport,
diff -r 753955932f64 -r a24b02d77666 configure.in
--- a/configure.in	Sat Jan 08 04:35:36 2011 +0100
+++ b/configure.in	Sat Jan 08 09:54:44 2011 +0200
@@ -2542,7 +2542,7 @@
  mremap nice pathconf pause plock poll pthread_init \
  putenv readlink realpath \
  select sem_open sem_timedwait sem_getvalue sem_unlink setegid seteuid \
- setgid \
+ setgid sethostname \
  setlocale setregid setreuid setresuid setresgid setsid setpgid setpgrp setuid setvbuf \
  sigaction siginterrupt sigrelse snprintf strftime strlcpy \
  sysconf tcgetpgrp tcsetpgrp tempnam timegm times tmpfile tmpnam tmpnam_r \