diff -r e063f1b724d7 Doc/library/shutil.rst
--- a/Doc/library/shutil.rst	Tue Mar 13 00:16:17 2012 -0700
+++ b/Doc/library/shutil.rst	Tue Mar 13 04:32:55 2012 -0400
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
    match one of the glob-style *patterns* provided.  See the example below.
 
 
-.. function:: copytree(src, dst, symlinks=False, ignore=None, copy_function=copy2, ignore_dangling_symlinks=False)
+.. function:: copytree(src, dst, symlinks=False, ignore=None, copy_function=copy2, ignore_dangling_symlinks=False, makedirs_function=os.makedirs)
 
    Recursively copy an entire directory tree rooted at *src*.  The destination
    directory, named by *dst*, must not already exist; it will be created as
@@ -155,6 +155,10 @@
    as arguments. By default, :func:`shutil.copy2` is used, but any function
    that supports the same signature (like :func:`shutil.copy`) can be used.
 
+   The *makedirs_function* argument, if given, should be a callable that can
+   be used to create the destination directory. By default, we simply use the
+   :func:`os.makedirs` function.
+
    .. versionchanged:: 3.2
       Added the *copy_function* argument to be able to provide a custom copy
       function.
diff -r e063f1b724d7 Lib/shutil.py
--- a/Lib/shutil.py	Tue Mar 13 00:16:17 2012 -0700
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py	Tue Mar 13 04:32:55 2012 -0400
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@
     return _ignore_patterns
 
 def copytree(src, dst, symlinks=False, ignore=None, copy_function=copy2,
-             ignore_dangling_symlinks=False):
+             ignore_dangling_symlinks=False, makedirs_function=os.makedirs):
     """Recursively copy a directory tree.
 
     The destination directory must not already exist.
@@ -239,6 +239,9 @@
     destination path as arguments. By default, copy2() is used, but any
     function that supports the same signature (like copy()) can be used.
 
+    The optional makedirs_function argument is a callable that is used to
+    create the directory structure. We default to os.makedirs here.
+
     """
     names = os.listdir(src)
     if ignore is not None:
@@ -246,7 +249,7 @@
     else:
         ignored_names = set()
 
-    os.makedirs(dst)
+    makedirs_function(dst)
     errors = []
     for name in names:
         if name in ignored_names:
diff -r e063f1b724d7 Lib/test/test_shutil.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py	Tue Mar 13 00:16:17 2012 -0700
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py	Tue Mar 13 04:32:55 2012 -0400
@@ -577,10 +577,26 @@
         shutil.copytree(src_dir, dst_dir, copy_function=_copy)
         self.assertEqual(len(copied), 2)
 
+
+    def test_copytree_makedirs_func(self):
+
+        src_dir = self.mkdtemp()
+        dst_dir = os.path.join(self.mkdtemp(), 'destination')
+        write_file((src_dir, 'test.txt'), '123')
+
+        created = []
+        def _makedirs(dir_name):
+            created.append(dir_name)
+            os.makedirs(dir_name)
+
+        shutil.copytree(src_dir, dst_dir, makedirs_function=_makedirs)
+        self.assertEqual(len(created), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(created[0], dst_dir)
+
     @support.skip_unless_symlink
     def test_copytree_dangling_symlinks(self):
 
-        # a dangling symlink raises an error at the end
+            # a dangling symlink raises an error at the end
         src_dir = self.mkdtemp()
         dst_dir = os.path.join(self.mkdtemp(), 'destination')
         os.symlink('IDONTEXIST', os.path.join(src_dir, 'test.txt'))