diff -r b6284d2aaada Doc/library/socket.rst
--- a/Doc/library/socket.rst	Sun Jan 06 16:14:22 2013 -0500
+++ b/Doc/library/socket.rst	Fri Jan 11 13:04:56 2013 +0100
@@ -827,7 +827,9 @@
 
    Return a :term:`file object` associated with the socket.  The exact returned
    type depends on the arguments given to :meth:`makefile`.  These arguments are
-   interpreted the same way as by the built-in :func:`open` function.
+   interpreted the same way as by the built-in :func:`open` function, except the
+   only mode characters supported are ``'r'``, ``'w'``, ``'b'`` and ``'t'``. The
+   default mode is ``'r'`` (open for reading text, synonym of ``'rt'``).
 
    Closing the file object won't close the socket unless there are no remaining
    references to the socket.  The socket must be in blocking mode; it can have
diff -r b6284d2aaada Lib/socket.py
--- a/Lib/socket.py	Sun Jan 06 16:14:22 2013 -0500
+++ b/Lib/socket.py	Fri Jan 11 13:04:56 2013 +0100
@@ -146,16 +146,20 @@
         """makefile(...) -> an I/O stream connected to the socket
 
         The arguments are as for io.open() after the filename,
-        except the only mode characters supported are 'r', 'w' and 'b'.
-        The semantics are similar too.  (XXX refactor to share code?)
+        except the only mode characters supported are 'r', 'w', 'b' and
+        (default) 't'. The semantics are similar too.  (XXX refactor to
+        share code?)
         """
         for c in mode:
-            if c not in {"r", "w", "b"}:
-                raise ValueError("invalid mode %r (only r, w, b allowed)")
+            if c not in {"r", "w", "b", "t"}:
+                raise ValueError("invalid mode %r (only r, w, b, t allowed)")
         writing = "w" in mode
         reading = "r" in mode or not writing
         assert reading or writing
         binary = "b" in mode
+        text   = "t" in mode or not binary
+        if binary and text:
+            raise ValueError("modes t and b cannot be used simultaneously")
         rawmode = ""
         if reading:
             rawmode += "r"